Ram Rajagopal, civil and environmental engineering; June A. Flora, H-STAR

Most electric utilities have multiple programs offering customers financial incentives for using electricity efficiently and reducing use when power demand is very high. But utilities often do not know what programs are effective, or how to market the specific incentives to the customers most likely to respond. Working with PG&E, the investigators have developed a system using data from 200,000 smart meters to identify residential customers who are good targets for such incentives. This new project will extend their system to 2,000 small and medium business customers of PG&E and, to a lesser extent, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. In addition to its data analysis component, the system includes a visualization and interaction front end for engaging selected users via email, the Internet and print.