Market and Load Research

Knowledge is Power! With the onslaught of enormous amounts of data, understanding your customers has never before been more possible or more valuable! Combining the power of custom-designed surveys with interval data will enable you to effectively identify and target customer segments, design optimal demand response programs, achieve energy efficiency program potential, and properly value the economic cost of outages. Equipped with this knowledge, you can make the best decisions to help achieve your strategic goals and provide unsurpassed service to your customers!

Applications

• Appliance saturation surveys
• Demand response program optimization surveys
• Load shape development
• Statistical sample designs and selection
• DSM marketing materials
• Value of Service surveys
• Industry and Market Surveys

Load research programs were started at many larger utilities in response to the mandates of Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) and were intended to improve the allocation of costs among rate classes in regulated ratemaking procedures. Interest in load research has increased more recently as a result of expanding hourly wholesale market activity and in response to the challenges of settlement accounting in areas that have moved to full retail competition. Widespread hourly market data provides a new benchmark in assessing the true cost of serving particular load shapes in contrast to the revenue yield from current embedded cost rates. Load shapes are also critical to sound design of demand response and innovative ratemaking programs. Advances in metering technology have also brought end-use load shape measurement within the realm of commercial viability. This data can be a powerful tool in understanding customer behavior; however, it is a large task to manage and analyze.

Power System Engineering, Inc. (PSE) has worked extensively with clients on both ends of the load research spectrum. Some clients have provided us with a history of hourly load research data, which was being collected but not used to its fullest potential. Our competitive assessments based on that data provided useful market segmentation by revealing the areas where rate yield was not aligned with the hourly market costs of purchasing a given load shape. Solutions could normally be found through creative rate designs. At the other extreme, we have assisted clients with identifying their needs for hourly data and establishing a program to obtain that data at an acceptable cost.

PSE has recently provided the following load research services to our clients:

• Scoping studies to assess the needs for and intended uses of load research data.
• Surveys of client utilities to weigh the trade-offs between cost and precision for load research programs.
• Pilot programs to improve sample designs and to test alternative metering technologies.
• Sample designs to produce desired results at the lowest cost.
• Combined metering and data purchase programs to cover both residential and commercial classes at the lowest cost.
• Seminars to demonstrate high-valued applications of load research data.