A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1989

Recently the soaring economic growth in Taiwan has increased electric system's peak load. Since there was no increment in generating capacity in the past two years, load management has played an important role in coping with the decreasing reserve margin. Time-of-Use (TOU) tariff structure was introduced ten years ago for implementing the goal of load management because it serves as the way of indirect control of loads. An econometric model is used to examine the quantitative response to 3-section TOU rates by five selected industries' customers. Load patterns under the TOU tariff structure were compared with those that would have occurred under an equivalent uniform rate structure. The characterization of TOU customer's response is identified by comparing the average demands among TOU periods and relative peak loads under equivalent uniform and TOU rates. By using the related prices and consumptions, social welfare changes when TOU rates were applied, are also analyzed. Furthermore, the argument of whether TOU pricing increases the utility{u2019}s profits has been demonstrated for 3-section TOU customers. We find that TOU customers were highly responsive to 3-section TOU prices, and the TOU period's electricity had apparent substitutability in most of the selected industries. The comparison for the TOU period's consumption under equivalent uniform and TOU rates shows customers generally curtail e d the electricity usage in peak period. Moreover, the estimated social welfare changes suggest that 3-section TOU rate structure actually provides welfare gains on formal welfare economic viewpoint, and the analysis of the revenue s under three different tariff structures ascertains that 3-section TOU pricing decreased the utility{u2019}s revenue when compared with regular service pricing.