What is demand management?
Demand management, as its name suggests, is a way of managing when and how much electricity is used by industrial and commercial consumers.
How does demand management work?
For industrial and commercial customers such as foundries, factories, shopping centres, and office buildings, options can include contracts where customers agree to use less electricity in hours of peak demand, or change employee hours so negligible power is used during such periods.
Reductions in electricity charges are available to customers who agree to use demand management in their premises. These vary with the type of contract negotiated, which could include how much advance warning a customer would require.
When would it be used?
The optimal time to use demand management would be during the few extremely hot days of a South Australian summer, typically around six to nine days each year. On these days, for some hours between 3 pm and 8 pm, South Australia’s electricity demand peaks from its average demand to such a height that our state has the˜peak demand in Australia, and one of the worst in the world.
Some interesting facts:
- South Australia’s average demand for power is less than half its peak demand.
- The average use of electricity in older homes is just 35% of their peak demand.
- The average use of electricity in homes in newer sub-divisions is just 21% of their peak demand.
- These disturbing figures mean that South Australians pay for infrastructure to be in place to meet a peak demand that occurs less than two per cent of the year.
What does it mean for me if I am an industrial or commercial customer?
Your options could include, but would not be limited to:
- an agreement to shut off a level of power on request from us with different discounts available depending on how much advance warning you would require
- an agreement to move your main hours of operation to earlier or later in the day on days of peak demand
- an agreement to substitute your electricity source during peak hours, ie the use of an in-house generator.