The influence of different tariffs schemes on electricity consumption for the UK domestic buildings

Electricity Suppliers in competitive electricity markets commonly respond to prices changes which are fluctuating over time, but most consumers respond to the price changes as relflected on their electricity bills. Almost all consumers pay fixed tariffs for their consumption without distinctions based on usage time, so these consumers have had no incentives to reduce their use during the peak times. This paper aims to analyze the influence of different tariff schemes on consumer behaviours in UK domestic buildings. A realistic half hourly electricity load profile for different types of UK households that based mainly on public reports and statistics has been generated. This load profile data were used to help calculate the expected change in consumers´ bills under standard tariffs offered from different suppliers to what the cost of electricity would be under time varying tariff (economy 7 tariff) and to estimate of how much consumers would shift their load in response to price changes without changing total consumption, for which the results are presented and discussed.