Regional difference of household electricity consumption: An empirical study of Jiangsu, China

Severe environmental problems are resulted from the rapid growth of electricity consumption in China, since thermal power plant occupies the predominant position in power generation and releases large amount of pollutants and greenhouse gas. Electricity consumption of residential sector grows even faster than that of industrial sector in recent years. Residential sector is increasingly believed to have huge potential of energy saving and efficiency improvement. This paper aims at discovering the regional difference of household electricity consumption (HEC). First, a research framework is provided to identify the characteristics of HEC from the following three dimensions, consumption volatility, pattern similarity and temperature sensitivity. Households are divided into different groups in each city. The major household groups that account for the largest proportion are identified and then regarded as representatives of different cities. The fluctuation characteristics of their typical load profiles are compared and discussed in detail. Moreover, we design an Empty City Index (ECI) to further discuss the relationship between HEC and the population flow in special time intervals, for example, Chinese Spring Festival. The empirical study demonstrates that population outflow during Spring Festival is more obvious in wealthier city. Through k-means clustering, typical household groups as well as their typical load profiles are identified in each city. And the results show that under the current tiered pricing for household electricity (TPHE), nearly 10% households in each city still have potential for load reduction and load shifting. For the entire Jiangsu province, such households account for 12.5%. Policy implications and the applicability of this study are suggested and discussed respectively to government, household customers and electric power companies.