Load profiling in the new electricity market

The electricity industry has been using load profiles particularly in tariff formulation for many years. However, using load profiles in the new electricity market is a new and different development. In a deregulated energy environment, customers can purchase electricity from any provider regardless of size and location. Thus, there is a growing interest in understanding the nature of variations in load shape to facilitate the electricity supplier in their marketing strategy. This paper reviewed some of the background theory and then described the importance of load profiling. The main influences encouraging the usage of load profile are also outlined. The paper concludes by discussing the criteria for determining the number and coverage of the profiles.