Quantifying Potential Power Savings from Household Appliance Consumption Data: A Methodological Approach and Estimated Results

The electricity grid becomes most stressed when there is high demand for electricity. Demand response programs are used as resource options for balancing supply and demand. Individual consumers can play a significant role in the operation of the electric grid by reducing or shifting their electricity usage during peak periods. However, it can be difficult to estimate how much power can be saved in a household at a particular time. To accomplish that, appliance consumption data recorded at 1-minute intervals was analyzed from 7 houses over a period of 3 days (August 1–3, 2022), when the grid in Tokyo experienced very low reserve margins. Three power saving approaches were considered: reducing the load, leveling the load or shifting the load. The amount of power that could be saved was estimated by generating simulation data and calculating the difference before and after performing the power saving action. The amount of power that could be saved relative to the total power consumed by all the houses ranged from 7% to 15.3%. The methodology applied in this research to quantify the power saving potential can be applied to smart meter data to estimate the amount of power that can be saved in a household at a particular time, which is important information for demand response programs.