Load impact of interruptible and curtailable rate programs: evidence from ten utilities [tariff incentives]

The authors present the results from a two-year study of industrial and commercial response to interruptible and commercial response to interruptible/curtailable (I/C) tariff programmes. The project draws on data from ten utilities and 147 customers with I/C service. A statistical procedure for measuring the load relief obtained from an interruption is outlined and compared to techniques based on average demand and day matching. Estimates of load relief are then presented for the ten utilities. While the estimates indicate that customer compliance is generally good, a significant disparity is found between the measured load relief and the load relief used to award customer credits