Seasonal variability of price elasticity of demand of households using zonal tariffs and its impact on hourly load of the power system

Price elasticity of electricity demand values are crucial for a proper design or retrofit of time-of-use electricity tariffs. The aim of this paper was to propose an alternative methodology for determination of self and cross price elasticity of demand with daily resolution for electricity customers changing their settlement to the time-of-use tariff. Progressing implementation of smart metering systems provides access to more accurate data reflecting the consumers' electricity consumption with at least hourly resolution, which has been a motivation to use load profiles data to analyze customer's price elasticity. The method is based on load profiles' comparison of customers using flat and time-of-use tariffs. A case-study example is presented for residential consumers settled according to time-of-use tariff in the area of one of Polish distribution system operators and the resulting price elasticity values vary significantly over the year. Effectiveness of zonal tariffs is also evaluated, along with their impact on the power system's load in the summer and winter peak load periods. The results may be used by supply companies and distribution system operators to improve efficiency of applied demand response programs based on time-of-use tariffs and thus influence the safety of the power system operation. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.