Operating cost reduction by electricity profiling and demand management

Abstract

Like many other industries, water utilities use a high amount of electricity to operate water and wastewater treatment plants and incur a large percentage of their operating cost as electricity bills. This study investigates the electricity usage profile of a water utility and employs demand management strategies for cost reduction. Two cost reduction strategies are verified in this research – (i) fixed price contract, and (ii) electricity time-of-use shifting. An illustrative case study has been presented with two years of interval data from eight selected sites of an Australian/Victorian water utility. The study results suggest that by employing the demand management strategies, up to 22% cost reduction could be achieved from annual electricity bills. The study recognizes that the solution could be customized for each individual site based on the site-specific electricity usage profile.