Load profiles and peak loads growth in typical consumption areas - Possibilities of their recording by remote metering system

In recent distribution practice in Serbia in the peak load forecasting and network planning, a specific problem occurred: intensive and durable peak load reduction. Significant electricity price increase and other changes of Tariff System led also to different consumer behaviour and daily load profiles "freezing". Therefore, investigation of modified load profiles in typical consumption areas has become necessary. On the other side, in some electricity distribution companies in Serbia, installation of systems for remote meter reading of customer consumption currently is under way. Such systems can be used also for other data acquisition. By proper selection of areas and data, they could be relevant for investigation of typical load profiles. Such system components, data selection, their transmission and analysis are presented in the paper. It also proposes the methodology for using load profiles and peak load values, after several years of their acquisition, for making accurate peak load forecasts as the first step in optimal network planning.