Application of Bees Algorithm to Reduce Household's Energy Costs via Load Deferment

This work studies the management of electrical and water appliances in a household with the ultimate goal of reducing its energy-related costs. We consider a scenario where the operation of energy and water appliances are scheduled during one day, in which water demands and energy restrictions needs must be satisfied. Operation periods for these appliances was determined by solving an optimisation problem whose objective function reflects the overall energy costs. The Bees optimisation algorithm was employed to solve this problem and schedule appliances usages. Documented results select periods when energy is cheaper to operate appliances: early in the morning (6 am and 8 am) and later at night (0 am). A profit was also achieved by selling excess photovoltaic energy to the grid.