A survey-based electricity demand profiling method for developing countries: The case of urban households in Bangladesh

Abstract Demand side management (DSM) is an effective approach to reducing electricity peak demand during hours of system peak. Many different DSM schemes are being efficiently used in the developed world, based on the observed demand profiles of residences through smart meters. Although there is potential to implement DSM in developing countries, lack of smart technologies, and insufficient granular information about the residential demand profile is hampering the development of different DSM schemes. An alternate approach not involving smart technology could be crucial to solve this problem. In this study, a survey-based demand profiling method is proposed in the absence of smart meter technology, particularly for the developing world, and Bangladesh is considered as a case study. The method involves a step-by-step procedure to construct an estimated average demand profile for the household. The results show that the estimated average demand varies between 3.3% and 10% from the average measured demand during system peak hours. The median demand variation is about 1.72%. On the other hand, during off-peak hours, the minimum and maximum variations are 21% and 47%, respectively, with a median variation of 39%. Therefore, the survey-based estimated demand profile is reasonably more accurate during peak demand hours than off-peak hours, and could be used for proper DSM strategy design to reduce peak demand. This demand profiling method might be a helpful tool for national electricity authorities.