Exploring Implications of Capacity-Based Electricity Pricing for Peak Demand Reduction

In the face of climate change, the UK has set concrete goals to decarbonise energy systems. Associated strategies include increasing electrification of residential heating and transport and the substitution of fossil fuel energy sources with renewables. These entail expensive infrastructure reinforcements to support increased peak loads. Energy demand management can help mitigate this anticipated load increase. Capacity-based pricing is a mechanism to incentivise energy demand management by charging for a maximum power draw as opposed to the volume of consumed energy. In this text we use a persona technique to study how user needs drive the typical energy services that compose the aggregate power draw in a family home. We use this to reflect on user feedback (obtained through a demand shifting workshop with 10 participants) to discuss the factors that would allow excessive power demand to be shifted away from peak demand times, thus reducing the maximum draw. Subsequently, the role of ICT as an enabler of energy demand flexibility is discussed which provides the basis for a quantitative evaluation of demand flexibility scenarios.We find that household power draw is dominated by a few services that require significant changes to increase flexibility.