Electricity and water end use study

Unique insights into how the power and water is delivered and used

Customer
Electricity & Cogeneration Regulatory Authority (ECRA), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The main activities of ECRA include regulation of Saudi’s electricity and water desalination industry and to develop and pursue a regulatory framework, in accordance with government laws, regulations, policies and standards, as well as international best practices in order to guarantee safe, reliable, reasonably priced and efficient electric power and desalinated water to Saudi consumers.

Project
The Electricity and Water End Use Study for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is directed by ECRA. The project objectives are to collect data to study and better understand the water and electricity consumption patterns in Saudi Arabia. The results of the data analytics are then used to develop a bottom up forecasting model that will be used by the LTP for long term planning purposes.

The project combines data sources at different levels to minimize the cost to of data collection and perform the analytics. The foundation of the data strategy requires the gathering of billing and basic demographic data and the collection of data on water and electricity consumption habits through surveys. One of the most important data input for the analytics is the load profiles consumption data from the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and digital meters. Finally, the collection of end-use data is done through the use of a combination of advanced non-intrusive load monitoring technology and direct metering. In the case of residential customers, the process involves the use of advanced analytics to disaggregate the signal into its components.

Services
DNV has been asked to support the deployment of monitoring equipment to collect consumption information from a representative sample of customers across the Kingdom. Data on electricity and water consumption is collected, cleaned and validated, after which analysis of collected data is performed to better understand consumption behaviours and patterns in the country. Based on the analysis, DNV then develops bottom up forecast models for electricity and water demand. 

While many of these data sources have been available for many years, the innovation comes from the integration of the nested end–use metering and, in particular, the newly developed non-intrusive load monitoring technology, and advanced analytics, providing a new level of insight at a fraction of the cost of the more traditional direct metering.

Benefits
By combining traditional load research practices with advanced metering and big data analytics, we have developed a methodology that brings utilities unique insights into how the power and water they deliver is used. This insight is then used to improve many aspects of the utility business: demand side management, efficient use of energy and water, tariff design, system planning, customer service, revenue loss reduction, et cettera.