A customer
wants to sign up for the Demand Reduction Program offered by the
utility which would give the utility permission to cycle customer’s
air conditioning system during peak load periods in return for
incentives. The utility representative signs up the customer, handles
installation of needed devices and implements the customer’s
participation in the program. At a later, the customer asks to be
transferred to a different load reduction program level and this
change is implemented accordingly.
Description
A western utility
has a residential customer base of 1 million meters. The meters are
installed in single-family detached housing (SFD), single-family
attached housing (SFA), apartment buildings, and mobile homes. The
utility has a high residential turnover rate as customers come to and
leave the service area more frequently than typical utilities.
The utility has
demand relief requirements and has multiple demand response programs
in place. It additionally supports active residential conservation
programs as well as residential alternate, renewable, and distributed
generation.
The results of all
of these efforts are reported to the Sate PUC as part of their
requirements to receive credit in rate base.
On Monday morning
a residential customer of utility X calls Customer Service and
requests a “sign up” in the utility’s air-conditioning demand response
programs that they read about in the newspaper. The Customer Service
representative [CSR] transfers the call along with the customers
account information “utility program specialist” while the customer is
still on the line. The program specialist [PS] opens up a computer
file that delineates the features and requirements for participation
in each of the utilities AC demand reduction program (that includes a
gateway product, a smart thermostat product, and a simple switching
product, all with different incentives). The customer selects a
specific program and the specialist asks pertinent questions about the
customer’s participation to help reduce problems. The specialist
selects a convenient date for installation of equipment and to start
the program at the specific residence. Once the program specifics and
the customer specifics are entered into the Demand Response database,
the installation company is notified of the specific program
requested, the installation date, customer information and specific
tracking number/ID. The information is automatically downloaded into a
PDA designed to accommodate the data.
The installer
places the appropriate equipment, in this case a DLC switch, on the
customers AC unit, tests the system with a handheld unit, and places
all information into the same PDA as used to download the original
request. After the installation is completed, the PDA is connected to
the installers computer system in the truck and via a web-hosted
database all information is uploaded to the utility. The utility
software automatically notifies the Demand Response Program Manager [DRPM],
advises billing that the customer will receive a financial incentive,
which is listed on their monthly bill during the appropriate summer
months and subtracted from the “amount due” line. At the end of the
summer program, the billing software automatically reverts to the
normal invoice and removes incentives from the bill.
In addition to
billing, the program initiation also triggers a summer-months energy
consumption-tracking program. The software recalls specific customer
usage data for the previous year for the months of June, July, August
and September. The database also includes average daily and monthly
ambient temperatures, which will be used with customer usage data to
ascertain savings and relative demand reduction. The information is
inserted into a database that is used by the Demand Response Program
Manager to assess relative load reduction as well as to determine if
free-ridership is an issue.
The residential
customer participates in the program through July, but after several
110+ degree-days decides that participating in the program at the 100%
cycling strategy (complete AC shut down for the designated curtailment
period) is too severe and wants to be placed in the 50% cycling
program. The request in placed into the system by the utility program
specialist and the customer is automatically removed from the 100%
strategy, placed on the 50% strategy, billing is notified
automatically and the incentive is recalculated. The Program Manager
is notified of the change in participation level, the billing is
advised to adjust the financial incentive and the tracking database
flagged with the information as well.
Those
entities that are located at customer’s
premises
Actor
Name
Actor
Type (person, device, system etc.)
Actor
Description
Customer
Person
One
requesting the sign up for the Demand Reduction
Program.
Customer
Communication Portal
Power
System
Power
System handling communications function at
customer’s premises
DLC Switch
Controller
Device
Device
performing cycling of the air conditioning unit
.
Grouping
(Community) ,
Group
Description
Load
Serving Entity Customer Service
Those
entities that are charged with handling
customer service functions for the power
company
Actor
Name
Actor
Type (person, device, system etc.)
Actor
Description
Load
Serving Entity
Power
System
Power
company communications system that handles
customer call center services
CSR
Person
Customer
Service Representative (CSR), Person who
interfaces with the customer initially for the
power company
Utility
Program Specialist
Person
Person who
handles load reduction-related services for the
customer
Customer
Information Database
Power
System
Power
System that contains information about customer
accounts of the power company
Demand Reduction
Program Database
Power
System
Power
System that contains information about all of the
Demand
Reduction Program [Demand Reduction Program
Database] Database
offered by the utility, participation
requirements, equipment details and links to
customer billing system for passing incentive
information
Demand Reduction
Program Database Manager
Person
Demand
Response Program Manager
Customer Billing
System
Power
System
Power
System that handles generation of bills for the
services provided to the customer
Customer Id
Device
A common
customer identification key that is used by
service providers authorized by the customer to
identify all of their service accounts
Installation
Schedule Database
Power
System
Power
System that handles scheduling installation of
equipment at customer premises [in this case, the
DLC switch], specifying equipment to be installed,
confirmation of completion of installation and
links to the billing system using the common
customer id
Grouping
(Community) ,
Group
Description
Installer
Those
entities that are associated with the
installation function
Actor
Name
Actor
Type (person, device, system etc.)
Actor
Description
Installer
Person
Utility
person assigned to handle the specified customer
site installation task
DLC Switch
Controller
Device
Power
System handling cycling of air conditioning
equipment at customer’s premises [generally
consists of a RF receiver and a switch component
to turn the air conditioning compressor on/off]
Installation System
Power
System
Power
System for managing the installation activities at
the customer site – in this case consists of a PDA
that contains the installation order information,
a test unit to verify proper installation and
software to record installation details
Installer Computer
Power
System
Power
System for accessing utility’s installation
database, downloading specific order information
to the InstallationSystem PDA, communications link
to the utility’s network to access order data and
to upload confirmation data
Grouping
(Community) ,
Group
Description
Others
Those
entities that are involved in this
activity, but do not fit in any of the
Groupings above
Actor
Name
Actor
Type (person, device, system etc.)
Actor
Description
Public Utility
Commission
Person
The entity
that receives results of the utility’s demand
reduction program.
Demand Response
Program Manager
Person
Person
managing the Demand Reduction Program Database at
the utility
Information from the customer call for signing up
to participate in the utility’s Demand Reduction
Program
Customer
Power System Installation Order
Information on scheduling the installation at
customer’s site, equipment to be installed,
programming information on cycling regime, details
to be passed on to the billing program on
initiating incentive reward, intimation to Demand
Response Program Manager and triggers to start
tracking energy usage for program performance
verification
Program
Change Request
Information from the customer call on the changes
to be made to the customer’s participation level
in the utility’s Demand Reduction Program
Program
Change Confirmation
Information confirming the changes made to the
account based on the customer call, with
appropriate notification and triggers as per those
initiated on program activation
Activities/Services
Activity/Service Name
Activities/Services Provided
Signup Customer to
Requested Demand Reduction Program
Initiate actions
to modify customer’s account information to
indicate details of participation in the Demand
Reduction Program specified by the customer and
generate trigger to installation scheduling
program
Set Up Customer
Power System Installation Order
Initiate actions
to schedule installation at customer site, and
transmit customer site information, equipment
details and scheduling to the installer
Power System
Installation
Perform
installation at customer site, verify system
performance, and upload installation confirmation
back to utility
Installation
Follow-up
Initiate actions
to update load reduction system to send out
appropriate control signals to customer unit,
update customer billing information with
applicable incentives, alert the applicable Demand
Response Program Manager about installation,
initiate energy usage tracking, and set up flags
in the billing database to revert to regular
billing at the end of incentive period
Customer Request
to Change Program Participation
Initiate actions
to modify customer account information with the
change to the program participation, transmit
revised incentive information to billing system,
and alert the applicable Demand Response Program
Manager about change in participation level
Program Change
Conformation
Initiate actions
to generate a confirmation message to the customer
with details of the change made in program
participation level and the applicable incentive
rewards at the new level
Contracts/Regulations
Contract/Regulation
Impact of Contract/Regulation on
Function
Demand Reduction
Program Tariffs
Equipment
installed at customer site, cycling regime
implemented and incentive rewards applied to
customer bill
Policy
From Actor
May
Shall Not
Shall
Description (verb)
To Actor
Cycle Energy to
Equipment
Energy Service
Provider
X
Cycle power to air
conditioning unit on utility trigger
Air Conditioning
Equipment
Provide Load
Control Equipment
Service Provider
X
Install specified
equipment at customer site
Customer
Provide Incentive
Rewards
Energy Service
Provider
X
Provide incentive
reward on customer energy bill
Customer
Modify Incentive
Rewards
Energy Service
Provider
X
Modify incentive
reward on customer energy bill
Customer
Constraint
Type
Description
Applies to
Program Participation
Level of Participation
The level of Demand Reduction
Program participation chosen by the customer
Power cycling regime implemented
and amount of incentive reward provided
Reward Period
Inactive
Months of the year when the program
is not active [i.e., non-summer months for this
program]
No incentive reward provided
Energy Usage
Minimum Threshold
Tracked energy usage to meet or
exceed program requirements to qualify to
participate in the program and receive incentive
reward on bill
Eligibility to continue
participation in the program
