Evaluation of load management program in South Florida

The basic responsibility of the electric utility industry is to supply reliable, efficient and economical electric service to the customer. However, meeting these responsibilities has become increasingly complex because of the new technical, economical, environmental, political, and social considerations. The effect of these considerations/constraints has increased the uncertainty in the planning process and raised operating and capital costs. Therefore, utilities have sought means to control the rate of peak load, improve the efficiency/utilization of present electric energy systems and to reduce requirements for additional generation, transmission, and distribution investments. These methods form the set of functions known as load management. In this paper, application of the residential load management program of Florida Power and Light (FPL) is discussed. The load management program in South Florida is evaluated from both the utility and customer's perspectives. This includes establishment of a residential load management program, utility cost and benefits of the program, customer acceptance, and system configuration.<>