Determination of time-of-day schedules in the Portuguese electric sector

Electricity pricing based on time-of-day periods and marginal cost reflective pricing sends to consumers the right price signals, promoting economic efficiency in electricity use and in the use of its associated resources. For this purpose, the correct time-of-day schedules determination is of crucial importance. In this paper a methodology for the determination of adequate time-of-day schedules is presented. This methodology was used by ERSE in the definition of new time schedules of the Portuguese electricity tariffs, available to consumers as an option to the old schedule since 2005. The results are presented and discussed in this paper