Characterizing residential sector load curves from smart meter datasets

Understanding how and when residential electricity is used throughout the day is integral to the successful implementation of potential residential demand management strategies. Our analysis characterizes the daily hourly load profiles of approximately 160,000 residential electricity customers across the Southern California Edison (SCE) service area during the period spanning 2015 to 2016 and 2018 to 2019 across weekends, weekdays, seasons, and climate zones. We find that total daily electricity usage was highest in the hottest months of the year compared to milder months, particularly for households located in the hottest climate zones. The most energy-consumptive hours occurred during the mid-afternoon during the hottest months, in contrast to early evening high consumption in cooler months. We find that customers with average daily consumption at or above the 80th percentile cumulatively consume over 40% of electricity during the hottest months of the year residential load, while the bottom half of customers cumulatively consume <25% of the total residential load. The disparities in electricity usage across SCE households are higher in the mid-day, especially in milder months across all regions, and in mild climate zones compared to hotter climate zones since loads are not as dependent on high HVAC loads.