Patent ID: 7949615

Claim:
A method for providing a consumption management system for a commodity, the method comprising the steps of: providing a distribution system for the commodity; delivering the commodity to a plurality of customer sites, each customer site having a plurality of devices the use the commodity; providing a control system connected to the distribution system and the customer sites for controlling the distribution of the commodity; establishing an energy management program which may be activated during peak energy demand periods; defining a subset of the devices, the subset of devices includes devices of a predetermined type in use by the customers; providing a plurality of nodes, each node associated with one of the devices in the subset of devices at each customer site having a device of the predetermined type, the node having an interface operable by a user and being coupled to the control system, each node including control logic; receiving, at the control logic, data related to the price of the commodity from the control system; allowing the user, through the interface, to select a scenario from a set of predetermined scenarios, each of the scenarios in the set of scenarios defining a predetermined balance between comfort and economy for performance of the one of the devices when the energy management program is activated; establishing a setpoint for the one of the devices, the setpoint being a target for an operating characteristic of the one of the devices, each of the scenarios defining a permissible offset for the setpoint; and, controlling, by the node, consumption of the commodity by the associated device as a function of the setpoint and the offset associated with the user selected scenario, wherein the commodity has an associated supply classification established from a set of supply classifications, and each scenario in the set of scenarios has an offset associated with each supply classification in the set of supply classifications, the setpoint and the offset defining a permissible range for the operating parameter, wherein the node in controlling consumption of the commodity maintains the operating parameter within the permissible range.