Publications
2014 - January
SMUD's Communicating Thermostat Usability
A simultaneous, multi-user, paired comparison test of communicating thermostats for task efficiency, preference, and perceived usefulness of advanced features.
2014 - January
SMUD’s Residential Summer Solutions Study: 2011-2012
A 2-year investigation of the effects of dynamic pricing, customer-programmed thermostat automation, utility-controlled thermostat automation, and real-time energy and cost information, on residential energy conservation, summer weekday peak reduction, and event-driven demand response.
Analysis Addendum
Including: (1) Bill Impacts and Demographics (by rate), (2) Bill Impacts and Behavior (by rate), (3) Extrapolation of Savings Estimates to Population, (4) Baseline Calculation for Load Impact Evaluation (method comparison).
2013 - June
SMUD’s 2012 Residential Precooling Study: Load Impact Evaluation
Hourly load impacts resulting from residential precooling followed by peak temperature offset.
2010 - April
Residential Response to Critical Peak Pricing of Electricity: California Evidence
Results show that larger users respond more in both absolute and percentage terms, and customers in the coolest climate zone respond most as a percentage of their baseline load. Finally, an analysis involving the two different levels of critical-peak prices – $0.50/kWh and $0.68/kWh – indicates that households did not respond more to the higher CPP rate.
2010 - February
Residential Information and Controls Technology Review
Descriptions, pictures, and links for home energy displays and automation systems from 48 vendors.
2009 - September
Small Business Demand Response with Communicating Thermostats: SMUD’s Summer Solutions Research Pilot
This is the complete report describing SMUD’s Small Business Summer Solutions Study (151 pages).
2009 - August
Residential Response to Critical Peak Pricing of Electricity: California Evidence
SMUD’s “Small Business Summer Solutions” pilot provided on-site energy efficiency advice and offered participants several program options, including the choice of either a dynamic rate or monthly payment for air-conditioning setpoint control. During the summer, participants had energy savings of 20%, and the potential for an additional 14% to 20% load drop during a 100°F demand response event. In addition to the efficiency-related bill savings, participants on the dynamic rate saved an estimated 5% on their energy costs compared to the standard rate.
2007 - April
Residential Implementation of Critical-Peak Pricing of Electricity
Findings show that high-use customers respond significantly more in kW reduction than do low-use customers, while low-use customers save significantly more in percentage reduction of annual electricity bills than do high-use customers—results that challenge the strategy of targeting only high-use customers for CPP tariffs. Across income levels, average load and bill changes were statistically indistinguishable, as were satisfaction rates.
2007 - January
An exploratory analysis of California residential customer response to critical peak pricing of electricity
Hourly load data collected during a 15-month experiment shows statistically significant load reduction during events, for participants both with and without automated end-use control technologies. Response is greatest on days with maximum temperatures above 95°F, but good response is also found on days with maximum temperatures below 60°F.