Patent ID: 7516106
Filing Date: 2009-04-07
Classification: F24F,G05B,G06Q,H02J,H04L,Y02B,Y04S

Abstract:
1. A method for providing a consumption management system to a plurality of customers of a utility of a commodity that allows the utility to manage demand for the commodity, wherein the utility delivers the commodity to a plurality of customer sites each having a plurality of devices that use the commodity, wherein each device is equipped to determine the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the device, the method comprising the steps of: allowing each customer to individually subscribe to one or more of a plurality of energy management programs defined by the utility, wherein the subscribed energy management program defines whether the subscribing customers can override the subscribed energy management program after activation; measuring the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to each device at the plurality of customer sites; sending the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to each device to the utility; providing a device type indicator to the utility for each device, the device type indicator identifying the type of the device; defining a subset of the devices in a computer at the utility, wherein the subset of devices includes devices of the same type in use by the subscribing customers; determining in the computer at the utility, in real time, an aggregated demand for the commodity that can be managed for the subset of devices by aggregating the instantaneous rate of commodity consumption for the subset of devices, wherein the determining step is conducted before activating the subscribed energy management program for the subset of devices; comparing in the computer at the utility, in real time, the total demand for the commodity with a threshold capacity determined by the utility, wherein the total demand includes the aggregated instantaneous rate; activating at least one of the subscribed energy management programs when the total demand for the commodity from the utility approaches a threshold capacity determined by the utility, wherein activation of the subscribed energy management program adjusts operational settings for each device of the subset of devices to reduce consumption of the commodity by the subset of devices; verifying in the computer at the utility, in real time, an achieved reduction in the instantaneous rate at which the commodity is being delivered to the subset of devices following activation of the subscribed energy management program, wherein the verifying step comprises determining whether the activation of the energy management program reduced the total demand for the commodity from the utility; wherein the activating step further comprises: