Patent ID: 8738546

Claim:
A method for real-time pricing of electrical energy, wherein the method comprises: receiving electrical energy data, wherein the electrical energy data comprises one or more energy pricing parameters specified by an energy supplier, wherein the one or more energy pricing parameters depend on type of customer and on price sensitivity of a customer, and wherein receiving electrical energy data is carried out via a module executing on a hardware processor; measuring power grid frequency for a sampling period of a pre-determined duration, wherein the power grid comprises the current frequency of the power grid, and wherein measuring power grid frequency is carried out via a module executing on a hardware processor; measuring current energy consumption, wherein current energy consumption comprises total energy consumption in a most recent sampling period, and wherein measuring current energy consumption is carried out via a module executing on a hardware processor; storing the total energy consumption for the most recent sampling period in a database; retrieving consumption history from the database, wherein consumption history comprises cumulative energy consumption by a customer over a sliding window time period of multiple sampling periods, and wherein retrieving consumption history is carried out via a module executing on a hardware processor; computing a unit energy rate as a function of customer type, the one or more pricing parameters, the measured power grid frequency and the retrieved consumption history, wherein computing a unit energy rate is carried out via a module executing on a hardware processor; and using the computed rate to compute a total charge for the most recent sampling period as a product of the unit energy rate and the total energy consumption in the most recent sampling period, wherein using the computed rate to compute a total charge is carried out via a module executing on a hardware processor.