Industrial and Commercial Customer Response To Real Time Electricity Prices

This paper uses hourly data from industrial and commercial customers that volunteered to participate in Central and Southwest Service's (CSW) real-time pricing (RTP) programs to characterize the induced price response. The CSW RTP program, which adopted the two-part, revenue neutral design first introduced by Niagara Mohawk, was introduced to large commercial and industrial customers in Oklahoma 1994, and later in other jurisdictions. This study used summer months' price and usage data for the period 1998-2001. Most of the participants had gained substantial experience managing load under RTP by 1998, and this period was characterized by considerable price volatility.