Smart grid and impact analysis of the application hourly rate for residential consumers using the Monte Carlo method

Abstract

The Brazilian electrical system will pass through significant changes, reaching the integration of information technology infrastructure and communications. The smart metering and the application of hourly rates will be one of the firsts procedures that will be adopted in order to transform the existing network in Smart Grids and definitively change the role and the participation of the consumer in the operation of electrical system. Residential consumers can be considered the most responsible for increasing the peak of load in the electric system, making the system and consequently the invested capital become idle in most of the time. Therefore the application of different hourly rates becomes important since the energy tariff applied to residential consumers do not induce greater efficiency in the use of the distribution system. The hourly rate was established aiming to promote energy management by the consumers and it will be an alternative to conventional and will also offer three different rates of energy tariff during the day. In order to estimate and improve the understanding of this new modality of energy tariff this paper proposes an initial analysis on the electric shower, which is considered the most responsible for the peak of the load curve. The method of Monte Carlo was applied to evaluate possible scenarios regarding electric shower consumption as well as to analyze the impacts from this new tariff.