Impacts of enhanced billing on the residential electricity consumption

Enhanced billing is a kind of low-cost information feedback, which leads to energy saving by demand response. Based on a monthly metering and time-of-use tariff background, an index system for enhanced billing is first presented in this paper. Apart from fundamental data and comparison information, the paper particularly proposes indices for trend forecasting, temperature sensitivity analysis, environmental assessment and comprehensive evaluation, making the residents more clear about the impacts of their electricity consumption habits. A pilot project conducted by the Shibei Electricity Supply Company, Shanghai in 2012 is then introduced. Comparative studies show that feeding back the presented indices made most of the test groups cut down monthly electricity consumption and meanwhile increase their valley electricity proportions. The stimulation effect was most obvious in the families with floor areas ranging from 125~180m in the high-grade and medium-grade residential quarters. Besides, periodical feedback seems necessary to prevent the incentive effects from declining.