Customer communications for demand-side management

Demand-side management means many things to many people. Influence over consumer demand patterns can be achieved in a variety of different ways; in some countries, for example, customers are invited to subscribe for a particular maximum demand, and if this is exceeded, the meter simply disconnects the supply. But this is a crude system and more acceptable forms of DSM can be achieved through some form of customer communications. At the most basic level, DSM can be accomplished by a process of education, by encouraging consumers to change their attitudes to, and patterns of, energy consumption. Realistically, however, this strategy has limited scope for success, and so DSM has become a major driver of suitable enabling technologies. This paper examines some ways by which modern communications systems can be used to implement DSM measures