SMUD’s Residential

Summer Solutions Study Karen Herter, Herter Energy Research Solutions

Vikki Wood, SMUD

ETCC Quarterly Meeting

March 29, 2012

Research Team and Funding

• Research Team

– Herter Energy Research Solutions

– Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)

• Funding

– Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)

– California Energy Commission Public Interest

Energy Research via the Demand Response

Research Center at Lawrence Berkeley Lab

2

Study Goals

• Build on what we already know – TOU rates are effective for shifting and reducing load every day

– Dynamic rates and direct load control are effective for shedding load during events

– Thermostat automation enhances both of these effects

• Answer some new questions – Does real-time energy data enhance energy and/or peak savings?

– Is there added value in providing real-time appliance energy data?

• Combine rates, automation, real-time data and enhanced customer support to… – capture synergies between rates, automation and information

– provide as realistic an experience as possible

– obtain results that can be translated to the real world

3

Hypotheses

• For all participant groups

– Energy use is lower

– Weekday peak demand is lower

– Peak demand on event days is lower

– Electricity bills are lower

• Savings are greater for customers who

– have more information

– chose more program options

– are on the dynamic rate, compared to direct load control

– have higher energy use

– claim certain self-reported behaviors

– have certain dwelling characteristics

– have certain demographic characteristics

– report higher satisfaction levels

4

Control only (81)

Neither (49)

Rate only (44)

Rate + Control (91)

Summer Solutions Study Design

N=265 residential customers

1. Information Treatments: randomly assigned offered

2. Dynamic Rate | AC Control: offered customer chosen

5

A. Baseline Standard Billing Data (88)

C. Appliance Data (88) B. Home Data (89)

Information System billing, home and appliance data

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Zwave

Whole-house

sub-meter

Communicating Thermostat with

Energy Information Display

• Appliance data displayed

only on a webpage

Baseline: Standard Billing Data yesterday’s data today online

• Usage data only—no cost data

• Requires setting up an account

7

User Interface home and home/appliance data

8

User Interface appliance data

9

Optional TOU-CPP Rate with use tiers

10

To obtain a sufficient number of participants on the Standard

rate, the final mailing did not offer the Summer Solutions rate

Recruitment – Program Choices dynamic rate and/or AC control

• Dynamic Rate – 74%

– TOU-CPP rate (aka Summer

Solutions rate)

– Customer determines response

to high-price events

– 12 events

• Direct AC Load Control – 62%

– ATC (Automatic Temperature

Control)

– 4

set point raise during events

– One override allowed

– Same 12 events as TOU-CPP rate

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N=238

TOU-CPP +

ATC

ATC Only

13%

Neither

13%

TOU-CPP

Only

25%

Participant Profile pre- and post-surveys

• Participants on average are middle-aged, educated, prosperous

and living in large homes

– 51 years old

– 5 years of college

– Make >$100k a year

– Live in a 2,100 sq ft home, 26% with swimming pools

• Average number of occupants from 4-7pm in summer is 2.7

• Average summer monthly use is 1,000 kWh, with an average

summer monthly bill of $135

• Saving money and benefiting the environment are the two most

important reasons for participating in Summer Solutions

Education and Outreach websites (3 versions)

• Links to participant materials

and customer survey

• Frequently Asked Questions

• Discussion Board

• Equipment info

• Rates info

• Links to rebates and info

• Customer Service contact info

13

Education and Outreach Energy Assessments

• Free offering to all participants as one of the benefits offered

• 100+ homes visited

• Photos taken of problems/code violations

• Copy of actionable checklist provided to customer

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Education and Outreach Bill Comparison Report for TOU-CPP rate

Bill Comparison Start Date 7/12/2011 End Date 8/10/2011

Standard Rate: RSG Sherlock Holmes

Billing Month: August 221B Baker Street

Account Number: 1234567 Folsom, CA 95630

Summary Bill Comparison Critical Peak Days This Month

Thursday, July 21, 2011 Standard Bill $96.71 Thursday, July 28, 2011 Summer Solutions Bill $77.42

Congratulations you saved 19.9% on your bill: $19.29

Plus you earned from Auto Temp Control: $8.00

Total savings this month: $27.29

Your Bill on Standard Rate

Bill Component Monthly

KWh Price per kWh Charges

Base Usage 700 $0.1045 $73.15 Base-Plus Usage 88 $0.1859 $16.36

Electricity Use Subtotals 788 $0.1136 $89.51 System Infrastructure Fixed Charge $7.20

Standard Rate Charges $96.71

Your Bill on Summer Solutions Rate

Bill Component Monthly

KWh Price per kWh Charges

Off-Peak Base Usage 700 $0.0721 $50.47 Off-Peak Base-Plus Usage 46 $0.1411 $6.49

On Peak Usage 38 $0.27 $10.26 Critical Peak Usage 4 $0.75 $3.00

Electricity Use Subtotals 788 $0.0891 $70.22 Summer Solutions Rate Charges 788 $77.42

Summer Solutions rate

participants received a

Bill Comparison Report,

showing bill savings or

losses compared to what

they would have paid on

the Standard rate

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Education and Outreach Quick Start Guide and Rate Magnet

A refrigerator magnet was provided

to participants who elected the

Summer Solutions rate

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Event Notifications

• Twelve events from July through September

• Notified Participants – Email – including recommendations for participant action

– Thermostat display – blinking light and message

– Computer energy display – ACTIVE event status displayed

– Special requests – phone calls or text message

• Notified Equipment – OpenADR to gateway

– Z-wave from gateway to thermostat

– Thermostat initiates Automatic Temperature Control (4 F) or customer-programmed response to events

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2011 Temperatures and Events a cool summer─normally 15 days >100°F

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Response to events in a more typical year is likely to be higher

Findings

Overall Program Impacts loads on a 100⁰ F day

20

• Both energy and peak load savings on non-event days

• Load savings on event days—pre-cooling and rebound take back energy savings

Overall Program Impacts compared to 2010 baseline

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• Average energy savings of .09 kWh (8%)

• Average load savings of .34 kW (20%) on non-event days

• Average load savings of .99kW (59%) on event days

Real-time Information Effects on event weekdays

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• No savings difference by information on event days

Real-time Information Effects on non-event weekdays

23

• Appliance information better than whole house information better than

billing information on non-event days

Real-time Information Effects compared to baseline (billing data)

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These interesting findings will be monitored again in summer 2012

• Home data improved energy savings

• Appliance data improved peak savings

Real-time Information Effects by treatment group

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Values in bold indicate a statistically significant difference from baseline information

• Home data improved energy savings

• Appliance data improved peak savings

-6.8% -11% -5.6%

-10%

-17%

-14%

-38% -41% -43%

Real-time Information Effects by automation

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Future thermostats will provide automation for all three time periods

YES automated

event response

NO real-time

optimization

NO automated

TOU response

• Automation during peak events overshadows information effects

Dynamic Rate vs. AC Control on event days

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Options were chosen by participants, not randomly assigned

• More program options result in greater event day savings

• SS rate participants saved more than ATC participants on event days

Dynamic Rate vs. AC Control on non-event days

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Options were chosen by participants, not randomly assigned

• SS rate participants saved more than ATC participants on non-event days

Dynamic Rate vs. AC Control by program option

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Values in bold indicate a statistically significant difference from ‘Neither option’

Statistically significant

savings over ATC only

-3.3% -9.2% -10.3% -7.6%

-7.8%

-24%

-8.5%

-36%

-58%

-53%

-23%

• Energy savings are the same for SS rate and ATC options

• Peak savings are greater for the SS rate options

Bill Impacts

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These bill savings are in addition to those associated with energy savings

Average savings relative to

Standard rate bills: 7.5% • 23% saved >10%

• 4% lost >10%

• Participants on the Summer Solutions rate saved about twice as much on

average ($20/month) as those on the Standard rate ($10/month)

Behaviors - Event Settings by program option

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

non-ATC ATC

°F

SS Rate Standard Rate

3.3

4.0 4.0

• Participants were assisted in setting thermostats for critical event days

─ ATC participants could not change this setting

─ SS rate participants as a whole did not change settings

─ Standard rate participants lowered one degree on average

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3.9

Behaviors - Event Overrides by program option

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Non-ATC ATC

Ov

err

ide R

ate

(

12 E

ven

ts)

SS Rate Standard Rate

• ATC participants were limited to one override, resulting in only a 1%-2%

override rate

• SS rate only (non-ATC) participants overrode 6%

• Standard rate only (non-ATC) participants overrode 27%

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6.0%

27.0%

1.8% 1.2%

Behaviors - Peak and Event before/after Summer Solutions

• Behaviors that increased the most across the summer are increasing the

thermostat setpoint during peak, running the pool pump off peak, and precooling

Behaviors - Energy Efficiency without/with Home Energy Assessment

• Energy Assessments increased most behaviors

Confidence in Completing Tasks pre-and post-summer

• On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = I can’t do this at all” and 5 = “I feel very

confident”

• Scores indicate increased confidence from beginning to end of summer,

except for finding information

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4.0

4.0

4.1

4.2

4.4

4.0

3.9

3.9

4.1

4.2

Find information when I need help

Improve the energy efficiency of my home

Obtain my energy use and cost data

Program my thermostat

Shifting energy use to the off-peak hours

Confidence in completing tasks

Pre-summer

Post-summer

Usefulness of Pilot Features

• On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = “This is actually a negative for me,”

3 = “Neutral” and 5 = “Most important”

• Home Energy Assessment, Bill Comparison, thermostat energy display and

real-time data are the most highly valued pilot features

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3.8

3.8

3.9

4.0

4.1

4.3

4.3

4.3

Equipment User Guides

Participant Website

Summer Solutions Rate Magnet

Energy Display on the computer

Thermostat

Energy Display on the thermostat

Bill Comparison sheet

Home Energy Assessment

Features

Usefulness of Information Items by whether available or not

• On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = “This is actually a negative for me,”

3 = “Neutral” and 5 = “Most important”

• Those who have appliance data value it less than those who don’t

• Those who have whole house data value it more than those who don’t

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4.1

4.2

4.1

4.0

3.5

3.6

4.0

4.0

4.1

4.2

4.2

An up-to-date list of the dates on which Events haveoccurred

The ability to set a budget or goal for my monthly bill, andtrack my progress

An alert when my bill is approaching the Base Plus (Tier2) rate

Historical electricity use and cost data for prior day, week,billing period, and year

Real-time electricity use and cost data for my wholehouse

Real-time electricity use and cost data for my majorappliances

A pie chart showing how each appliance contributes to mytotal electricity use

Information item

Don't have

Have

Comfort

• On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 = “I was very uncomfortable” and 5 = “I was

much more comfortable”

• Scores indicate minimal discomfort, even during peak events

• No significant differences among program options

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2.4

2.7

2.7

Comfort during the Event peak (4-7 pm onevent days)

Overall comfort during the summer months(June-September)

Comfort during the normal weekday peak (4-7 pm every non-holiday weekday)

Comfort

Satisfaction

• 83% = Excellent or Good

– All groups were equally satisfied

• 90% signed up again for Summer Solutions 2012

– 5% dropped out, 5% unreachable

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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

% of Survey Respondents (N=236)

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Satisfaction by program element

• On a scale of 1 to 5 from “terrible” to “excellent”

• All elements averaged “good” or better

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4.0

4.1

4.2

4.2

4.3

4.4

Summer Solutions Rate

Summer Solutions Equipment

Summer Solutions Study Overall

Automatic Temperature Control Option

Sacramento Municipal Utility District

Summer Solutions Team Overall

Program element

Hypotheses Findings

• For all participant groups

– Energy use is lower: YES

– Weekday peak demand is lower: YES

– Peak demand on event days is lower: YES

– Electricity bills are lower: YES

• Savings are greater for customers who

– have more information: MIXED

– chose more program options: YES

– are on the dynamic rate, compared to direct load control: YES

– have higher energy use: YES

– have higher satisfaction levels: MIXED (no savings for dropouts)

– claim certain self-reported behaviors: YES (e.g. pre-cooling, peak offset)

– have certain dwelling characteristics: YES (e.g. swimming pools)

– have certain demographic characteristics: NO (age, education, income)

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Contact:

Vikki Wood

SMUD

Vikki.Wood@smud.org

916-732-6278

Karen Herter, Ph.D.

Herter Energy Research Solutions

Karen@HerterEnergy.com

916-397-0101