Focus on electricity tariffs: experience and exploration of different charging schemes

摘要

There is a growing need to adjust demand to match supplyin electrical networks (rather than vice versa, under the ‘predictand provide’ model). The move towards more dynamicpricing is part of the development of ‘active demand’, a wayof discouraging usage when systems are under stress, andmaking renewable generation more viable. What is it realisticto expect from time-varying or capacity-related tariffs andassociated methods of network management, including directload control? Electricity tariffs are devised by experts butused by non-experts, and as yet we do not understand muchabout what different tariff types mean in terms of everydaypractices.This paper analyses material from six focus groups carriedout in the UK for the ADEPT project (Advanced DynamicElectricity Pricing and Tariffs). Householders discussed thegeneral principle of time-varying pricing, and considered sixoptions including a static time-of-use tariff, critical day pricing,real-time pricing, and capacity charging/load-capping. Thegroups were chosen on the basis of being all-electric households(1), prepayment customers (2), adopters of new technologies(solar PV, electric vehicles, heat pump) (3), customerswith experience of a basic time-of-use tariff (4), and credit customers,with and without experience of switching supplier (5,6). The emphasis was on ‘workability’, and on the concepts andconcerns associated with different tariffs. The responses offerinsights into customers’ knowledge about usage and networkoperation. They indicate how various tariffs might work in relationto household routines, and they illustrate concerns aboutprivacy, safety and control.