UK half-hourly regional electricity cost modelling for commercial end users
File(s)
Submitted version
Author(s)
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
The rising prices of electricity in the UK risks rendering businesses uncompetitive if these costs are not controlled. This issue has created the need to properly comprehend the tariffs and costing framework that influence the total cost of electricity for non-domestic customers. This paper details an open source method to model UK electricity regional costs (MUKERC) for commercial end-users; allowing users to visualise and calculate the cost of the electricity they consume. The methodology consists in a bottom-up model that defines individually all the tariff components and then aggregates them to quantify the cost of a kWh across each half-hour of the day. The disaggregated structure of MUKERC allows users to conduct specific analysis of tariff components and to understand their rich temporal and spatial features. This granularity facilitates understanding which tariffs influence costs more during different time periods. Emphasis is given to showcasing commodity prices and network charges; known as Transmission Use of System and Distribution Use of System tariffs. ‘Representative day’ electricity price curves for different day types, voltage level connections, and across different UK regions for 2016-17 are presented. Outputs from MUKERC can better inform companies on their energy costs and therefore allows them to perform comprehensive and bespoke energy management and energy efficiency strategies as it is possible to understand when and where the cost of electricity is more expensive. Results show that commercial buildings connected at Low Voltage in North Wales and Merseyside and the South West face the highest average electricity prices, whereas consumers connected to High Voltage in London and the North West have the cheapest electricity in the UK. Other significant findings indicate sites connected at low-voltage pay 7.5% more than high-voltage sites, winter weekday costs are 18% higher than summer weekday costs, and overall weekdays are 35% more expensive than weekends.
Date Issued
2018-06-17
Date Acceptance
2018-06-01
Citation
Proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems, 2018
ISBN
978-972-99596-4-6
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Efficiency, Cost, Optimization, Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems
Copyright Statement
© 2018 The Author(s).
Source
ECOS 2018 Proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Efficiency Cost Optimization Simulation and Environmental Impact of Energy Systems
Publication Status
Published
Start Date
2018-06-17
Finish Date
2018-06-22
Coverage Spatial
Guimarães, Portugal