Load shifting and retrofitting strategy for reducing electricity bill

In Malaysia, medium voltage commercial consumers are charged with two tariffs; i) total electricity consumption in kWh and ii) maximum demand in kW. To reduce their monthly electricity bill, the consumer can reduce their electricity consumption by replacing their current electrical equipment with energy saving ones. This strategy is known as retrofitting, which requires financial investment. Another strategy that is costless and can be effective is load shifting. It can minimize the maximum demand charge by simply shifting the consumption into another period. This paper evaluates the two strategies in terms of their ability in reducing the electricity bill of commercial consumer (C1 type) under Malaysia electricity tariff structure. The two strategies are tested on practical electricity consumption data of selected buildings in Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.