Electric energy bill reduction in dynamic pricing environments

Abstract

A system that can save energy and reduce electric utility costs is disclosed. The system may include one or more current measurement devices communicating with a processor as well as one or more switching devices for controlling power consumption in response to utility rate pricing systems.

1 . A method comprising:
 obtaining an electrical energy pricing structure from an electrical utility providing electrical energy to a consumer, the electrical energy pricing structure comprising a first tiered marginal rate schedule for electrical energy usage occurring during a first rate period within a billing period and a different second tiered marginal rate schedule for electrical energy usage occurring during a second rate period within the billing period;   projecting, based at least in part on historical data pertaining to time-dependent and load-specific usage of electrical energy by a plurality of electrical energy loads of the consumer, a first electrical energy usage by a first load of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one first time increment within a current or future electrical energy billing period and a second electrical energy usage by a second load of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one second time increment within the current or future electrical energy billing period;   generating a first load reduction and redistribution matrix, the generating of the first load reduction and redistribution matrix comprising scheduling the first time increment to occur during the first rate period and the second time increment to occur during the second rate period based at least on a predetermined prioritization pattern;   calculating, based on the electrical energy pricing structure, a first cost associated with energy usage scheduled according to the first load reduction and redistribution matrix; and   scheduling the first time increment and the second time increment during the billing period according to the first load reduction and redistribution matrix if the first cost is lower than a threshold;   wherein at least one of the obtaining, the projecting, the generating, the calculating, and the scheduling is performed by at least one processor.   
     
     
         2 . A computer implemented method as in  claim 1 , wherein the predetermined prioritization pattern comprises priority values for one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads. 
     
     
         3 . A method as in  claim 2 , wherein the priority values are user set and received via a user interface. 
     
     
         4 . A method as in  claim 1 , wherein the electrical energy pricing structure is obtained from the electrical utility over a network. 
     
     
         5 . A method as in  claim 4 , wherein the electrical energy pricing structure is received as a data stream output from a smart home energy meter and wherein the data stream also includes real time total usage of energy by the consumer. 
     
     
         6 . A method as in  claim 1 , further comprising promoting at least one of the first load reduction and redistribution matrix and the second load reduction and redistribution matrix, the promoting comprising at least one of providing, to a user via a user interface, a recommendation for reducing or temporally shifting usage of one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads, and automatically reducing usage of at least one of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one of the first rate period and the second rate period. 
     
     
         7 . A method as in  claim 1 , wherein the historical data comprise total electrical energy usage data representing a total amount of electrical energy used by a system in a given time increment and subcircuit-specific electrical energy usage data representing a subcircuit-specific amount of electrical energy used by each of a plurality of subcircuits in the given time increment, the subcircuit-specific amounts of electrical energy contributing to the total amount of electrical energy used; and
 wherein the first load reduction and redistribution matrix comprises a target reduction in one of the subcircuit-specific amounts of electrical energy used to maintain the total amount of electrical energy used during the first rate period below a level that triggers an increase in a marginal rate for electrical energy pricing for the first rate period according to the first tiered marginal rate schedule, the target reduction comprising one or more of delaying operation of a device that contributes to the subcircuit-specific amount of electrical energy used and operating the device that contributes to the subcircuit-specific amount of electrical energy used at a lower electrical energy demand during at least part of the given time increment.   
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 a plurality of electronic monitoring devices, each assigned to one of a plurality of electrical loads and each reporting electrical energy usage data for the assigned electrical load as a function of time; and   a central controller executing software that receives the electrical energy usage data and also receives an electrical energy pricing structure comprising a first tiered marginal rate schedule for electrical energy usage occurring during a first rate period within a billing period and a different second tiered marginal rate schedule for electrical energy usage occurring during a second rate period within the billing period, the central controller executing software that causes it to:   project, based at least in part on historical data pertaining to time-dependent and load-specific usage of electrical energy by a plurality of electrical energy loads of a consumer, a first electrical energy usage by a first load of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one first time increment within a current or future electrical energy billing period and a second electrical energy usage by a second load of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one second time increment within the current or future electrical energy billing period; generate a first load reduction and redistribution matrix, the generating of the first load reduction and redistribution matrix comprising scheduling the first time increment to occur during the first rate period and the second time increment to occur during the second rate period based at least on a predetermined prioritization pattern;   calculate, based on the electrical energy pricing structure, a first cost associated with energy usage scheduled according to the first load reduction and redistribution matrix; and   schedule the first time increment and the second time increment during the billing period according to the first load reduction and redistribution matrix if the first cost is lower than a threshold.   
     
     
         9 . A system as in  claim 8 , further comprising one or more electronic switch devices, each assigned to a specific load of the plurality of electrical loads, the one or more electronic switch devices receiving a command from the central controller that directs the one or more electronic switching devices to cut off or curtail energy usage by the specific load of the plurality of electrical loads during the first time increment; and wherein the central controller further sends the command. 
     
     
         10 . A system as in  claim 9 , wherein the command from the central controller directs each of the one or more electronic switch devices to temporally shift usage of the specific load of the plurality of electrical energy loads to which the electronic switching device is assigned from the first time increment to the second time increment. 
     
     
         11 . A computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
 obtaining an electrical energy pricing structure from an electrical utility providing electrical energy to a consumer, the electrical energy pricing structure comprising a first tiered marginal rate schedule for electrical energy usage occurring during a first rate period within a billing period and a different second tiered marginal rate schedule for electrical energy usage occurring during a second rate period within the billing period;   projecting, based at least in part on historical data pertaining to time-dependent and load-specific usage of electrical energy by a plurality of electrical energy loads of the consumer, a first electrical energy usage by a first load of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one first time increment within a current or future electrical energy billing period and a second electrical energy usage by a second load of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one second time increment within the current or future electrical energy billing period;   generating a first load reduction and redistribution matrix by, the generating of the first load reduction and redistribution matrix comprising scheduling the first time increment to occur during the first rate period and the second time increment to occur during the second rate period based at least on a predetermined prioritization pattern;   calculating, based on the electrical energy pricing structure, a first cost associated with energy usage scheduled according to the first load reduction and redistribution matrix; and   scheduling the first time increment and the second time increment during the billing period according to the first load reduction and redistribution matrix if the first cost is lower than a threshold.   
     
     
         12 . A computer program product as in  claim 11 , wherein the electrical energy pricing structure is obtained from the electrical utility over a network. 
     
     
         13 . A computer program product as in  claim 12 , wherein the electrical energy pricing structure is received as a data stream output from a smart home energy meter and wherein the data stream also includes real time total usage of energy by the consumer. 
     
     
         14 . A computer program product as in  claim 11 , further comprising promoting at least one of the first load reduction and redistribution matrix and the second load reduction and redistribution matrix, the promoting comprising at least one of providing, to a user via a user interface, a recommendation for reducing or temporally shifting usage of one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads, and automatically reducing usage of at least one of the plurality of electrical energy loads during at least one of the first rate period and the second rate period. 
     
     
         15 . A computer program product as in claim as in  claim 14 , wherein the automatically reducing usage comprises sending a command to a switching device corresponding to at least one load of the plurality of electrical energy loads, the command directing the switching device to cut off or curtail energy usage by the at least one load during at least one of the first rate period and the second rate period. 
     
     
         16 . A computer program product as in claim as in  claim 14 , wherein the automatically reducing usage comprises temporally shifting usage of at least one of the plurality of electrical energy loads from the first rate period to the second rate period. 
     
     
         17 . A computer program product as in claim as in  claim 11 , wherein the projecting comprises predicting electrical energy usage by one or more of the plurality of electrical energy loads as a function of one or more of time of day, day of the week, and season using at least the historical data. 
     
     
         18 . A computer program product as in claim as in  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise collecting the historical data from at least one electronic monitoring device monitoring and reporting electrical energy usage for the plurality of electrical energy loads. 
     
     
         19 . A computer program product as in claim as in  claim 11 , wherein generating the first load reduction and redistribution matrix further comprises:
 determining time-dependent load reduction targets that will achieve a target energy bill reduction for the billing period, the determining comprising identifying that the first electrical energy usage will cause some electrical energy used during the first rate period to be billed at an elevated rate.   
     
     
         20 . A computer program product as in claim as in  claim 11 , wherein generating the first load reduction and redistribution matrix further comprises:
 iterating through the plurality of electrical energy loads in the system for the first rate period to identify an electrical energy load of the plurality of electrical energy loads that can be absolutely reduced or delayed to the second rate period in accordance with the predetermined prioritization pattern.