Time-of-use electricity price effects: Connecticut

• Main Authors: White, S. B., Clayton, C. A., Alexander, B. V., Duncan, D. P.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: 32 ENERGY CONSERVATION; CONSUMPTION; AND UTILIZATION; 29 ENERGY PLANNING; POLICY AND ECONOMY; CONNECTICUT; POWER DEMAND; ELECTRIC POWER; TIME-OF-USE PRICING; ELECTRIC UTILITIES; HOUSEHOLDS; ECONOMIC ELASTICITY; RATE STRUCTURE; DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; CONSUMPTION RATES; NORTH AMERICA; NORTH ATLANTIC REGION; POWER; PRICES; PUBLIC UTILITIES; USA; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/7085794; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/7085794; https://doi.org/10.2172/7085794

Under time-of-use rates, higher prices are charged for electricity used during those parts of the day when demand and system costs are higher, with lower charges when demand and system costs are lower. In the Connecticut project, 200 customers of the Connecticut Light and Power Co. were placed on a seasonal time-of-use electricity rate from 10/75 through 9/76. Electricity consumption patterns of the experimental customers on the time-of-use rate and control group on the existing (declining block) rate showed that during the summer months the experimental group used less electricity during the peak and intermediate periods without any corresponding increase during the base period. Overall consumption during the summer months was reduced for the experimental group. By contrast, during the winter months the experimental group used significantly more electricity than the control group during the base period and considerably less than the control group during the peak period. Usage was about the same for both groups during the intermediate period. The experimental group's shifts in usage from peak to base period offset each other, so that overall consumption during the winter months was about the same for both the experimental and the control group. The diversified demand of the residential class at the time of system peak was, in almost every month, significantly lower for the experimental group. The residential class load factor based on that diversified demand was significantly higher for the experimental group. At the time of system peak, diversified demand was lower by 22 to 40% and the associated load factor was 118 to 149% of that under the control rate.