Smart Technology Helps Reduce Peak Energy Use
February 15, 2012
Approximately 6,000 residential customers of Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) have participated in the company’s final year of its two-year demand response study.
Some of the results include:
• 2011 study results confirm the company's findings from the 2010 study.
• Groups that included a Programmable Communicating Thermostat (PCT) and a Variable Peak Price (VPP) rate plan yielded highest average demand reduction during the on-peak period.
• Customers with a smart thermostat achieved a maximum demand reduction of 48% during the peak period when compared to a control group.
• 1.97 maximum demand reduction with PCT/VPP treatment.
• The amount of electricity used by participants on the company's VPP plan was highly influenced by price.
More than 6,000 residential and small business customers in Norman, Moore, and Oklahoma City, Okla., participated in the 2011 study. Residential and small business customers who volunteered to participate were randomly assigned a combination of a peak price plan and smart technology.
In 2012, OG&E is expanding its program to include an additional 40,000 residential and small business customers in its SmartHours program.
The study results demonstrate that smart technology coupled with dynamic pricing enables customers to reduce their maximum peak energy use, which will help delay the need for building incremental generation until at least 2020.
OG&E is nearing the end of a three-year comprehensive deployment of smart grid technology across its service territory, which includes the installation of smart meters, a secure wireless network and smart equipment on its distribution system to increase reliability and reduce operational expenses.
It received approval last year from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for recovery of approximately $360 million in project costs, of which more than $100 million is in matching funds from a US Department of Energy stimulus grant.
