Smart Meter Data to Analyze Electricity Demand from Single- and
Multi-family Consumers in a Diverse Urban Environment
Abstract
Natural and human-made extreme events can alter residential electricity
demand in urban areas and stress the electricity grid. Different types
of residential electricity consumers, which in some cases account for
more than 30% of customers, can present different consumption patterns.
Residential electricity demands have been widely analyzed considering
single-family consumers; however, multi-family consumers remain
comparatively understudied. The deployment of smart electricity meters
enables the identification of single- and multi-family residential
electricity consumption patterns at high temporal resolution. Using
smart electricity meter data for the greater Chicago area, we compare
electricity demand profiles reported by smart meters from single- and
multi-family consumers in a large and diverse urban environment. The
study provides a comprehensive analysis of daily electricity demand
profiles of these two types of residential consumers to identify peak
electricity consumption times and magnitudes. The analysis also presents
correlations of the electricity demand with socioeconomic data at the
zip code level. Preliminary results show that median building age,
percent of occupancy, and mean commute time are statistically
significant predictors of multi-family electricity consumption. Results
suggest that single-family consumers have comparable correlation when
using the same socioeconomic data with respect to the multi-family
users. Uncovering differences between single- and multi-family
electricity demands can assist city planners and utility managers to
develop tailored demand management strategies.