NSTAR Smart Energy Pilot Update
January 9, 2013
Agenda
1
Pilot Design
2
Preliminary Findings
3
Pilot Evaluation Timeline
1
Pilot Design
Green Communities Act was the catalyst for our
Dynamic Pricing Pilot
• Green Communities Act Pilot Requirements:
— Cover at least 0.25% of the utility’s customers
— Integrate two way communications and real time measurement of
consumption data.
— Utilize Time of Use or Hourly Pricing
— Achieve 5% reduction in Peak and Average usage
• NSTAR AMR-Based Dynamic Pricing uses existing AMR meter
infrastructure in conjunction with Tendril Home Area Network.
• Proposals submitted to the MA DPU April 2009; Approved in March 2010
2
Pilot Design
Near Real-Time Information for Customers and Utilities
•Communication Options
•Least Cost Options
•Minimize Stranded Costs
Mesh
AMR over Customer’s Broadband Service
Broadband over Power Line
Cellular
Cellular
3
Pilot Design
NSTAR AMR-Based Dynamic Pricing
All participants
Portal
Display
Translate
Gateway
Half of the
participants
Load Control Switch
Thermostat
4
Pilot Design
This project will test customer reaction to rates and near
real-time information, comparing results from 4 treatment
groups.
Group
Smart Thermostat /
Direct Load Control
Target Number
of Customers
No
770
1
Enhanced Information
2
Peak Time Rebate
700
3
Time-of-Use (TOU) Rate plus
Critical Peak Pricing (CPP)
700
4
No
Total
700
2,870
5
Pilot Design
Pricing Structures
•NSTAR will call no more than 12 Critical Peak Events during the
course of the year, each lasting for up to 5 hours
•Peak Time Rebate customers will be eligible to earn a fixed rebate
of $5 per event if the customer allows central air conditioning (A/C)
load control
•TOU-CPP customers will experience steep price differentials, per
the table below
Illustrative TOU and CPP Rate Periods and Prices
Period
Critical Peak
On-peak
Off-peak
Summer
Period
Winter
Period
(June September)
(October May)
As called by NSTAR
Noon to 5pm
non-holiday
weekdays
4pm to 9pm
non-holiday
weekdays
All other times
during the period
Approximate
Supply Price
Ratio
Standard
Supplier
Charges
Illustrative
Supply Price
(Relative to
Standard)
($/kWh)
($/kWh)
Illustrative
Delivery
Charges
Total
Electricity
Price
($/kWh)
($/kWh)
$0.08
x
10.62 :1
=
$0.82
+
$0.08
=
$0.90
$0.08
x
2.23 : 1
=
$0.17
+
$0.08
=
$0.25
$0.08
x
0.60 : 1
=
$0.05
+
$0.08
=
$0.13
6
Preliminary Findings
•Challenging to convert “interest” to “install” and to sustain
interest long- term.
53,000
Customer contacts
6.7%
Response
3600
Customers Enrolled
25%
2,700
Customers Installed
Dropout prior to Install
1,864
30%
Currently Enrolled
Common de-enrollment reasons:
•Devices off-line
•Dislike TOU/CPP rate; Dislike thermostat; Not saving money.
Dropout after install
7
Preliminary Findings
Participants are highly educated and technologically
savvy.
• Most participants make over $100k;
— 38% make $150k+
— 20% make less than $75k
• Only 5% of participants do not have a college degree. 67%
have a post-graduate degree.
• Participants are technologically savvy; 44% have 3 or more
personal computers. Less than 1% have 0, and 20% have 1
PC.
*Based on 64% response rate to pre-pilot survey (2,000 responses)
8
Preliminary Findings
Some customers love the increased information;
others expect more.
“It was very helpful and made
“The In Home Display is useless
me conscious of what I used for
and the data is not actionable.
electricity and made me think of
You need to have a mobile app.”
when to do laundry.”
“The thermostat and its
connectivity to the web portal
were very helpful. While it was
neat to have the in-home
display to see what is going on,
I don’t think it impacted our
decisions about energy usage.”
“I have found the program both
“All it really told me was that my
informative and educational from a
A/C and electric dryer use a lot of
best practice standpoint as well as
energy, which I already knew.”
helpful from a financial incentive
perspective. Thank you all, especially
for the responsive customer service.”
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Preliminary Findings
Evaluation – Three inter-related pieces
• Impacts
— Demand reductions (kW) after CPP events and in peak periods
— Energy savings (kWh) by season and year
— Customer bill savings ($)
• Process and Customer Satisfaction
Methods: Customer surveys and assessment of program processes
— Barriers to (and drivers of) participation
— Customer acceptance & satisfaction
— Improvements in structure and delivery of offerings
• Technology
— Ease of deployment and support
— Accuracy and reliability for billing and customer information
— Customer acceptance
10
Preliminary Findings
Load reductions during summer events
vary with the rate and technology
Average Load Reduction (kW)
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
• Automated load control via
thermostats achieves
reductions of 0.7 – 0.8 kW
0.3
0.2
0.1
• CPP rate without thermostats
saves ~0.2 kW
0.0
Peak Time TOU/CPP +
Rebate
LC (n=309)
(n=349)
TOU/CPP
(n=868)
Peak Time Rebate : Group 2
TOU/CPP + LC: Group 3
TOU/CPP: Group 4
Tech. Only: Group 1
Tech. Only
(n=903)
• Technology group shows
savings, but negligible
* Findings based on two events
in Summer 2012, with simple
baseline load estimation
11
Preliminary Findings
Web Portal: Used infrequently by most participants;
many want more useful data
• 75% of participants accessed the Web Portal at least once
(based on year-end 2011)
— Of those, 52% indicated that they use the Web Portal “rarely”; 15%
use it “several times a week.”
• Web Portal users rate the site’s attractiveness most highly and the data
usefulness most negatively.
• Suggested
improvements:
— Less data lag
— iPhone app
100%
80%
6%
22%
7%
9%
27%
28%
17%
28%
60%
Negative (1-2)
40%
Neutral (3)
72%
66%
63%
Positive (4-5)
55%
20%
0%
Appearance Navigation
Data
Accuracy
Data
Usefulness
Percentages are of
participants who used
the Web Portal at least
once (n=252)
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Pilot Evaluation Timeline
Pilot
Kick-off
Soft
Launch
Pilot
Start
Metrics &
Benefits
Report
Official
DOE
Technical
Performance
Report #1
Interim Report
to DPU
Metrics &
Benefits
Report
End of
Pilot
Official
DOE
Technical
Performance
Report #2
Final Report
to DPU
24 months
Summer
2010
January
2012
September
2012
Winter
2013
Summer
2013
December
2013
Spring
2014
• Pilot will run through 12/31/2013 with the final evaluation to US DOE and
MA DPU due April 2014.
13