Communication technology options in real-time pricing system for residential customers in electricity market

With the restructuring of the electricity industry and developing electricity market, the large fluctuation of electricity prices become a serious concern. Real-time pricing (RTP) is presented as one of the solutions to tackle the problem. However, the obstacle is in the communication system that handles power consumption signal, price signal, utility operator signal, etc. The paper describes some available communication technologies and schemes, particularly within a household, and proposes a technology that is suitable for this application, namely power line communication (PLC).