Electric Utility Rate Demonstration Project Series

Investigator(s): U.S. Department of Energy

The Federal Energy Administration, now incorporated into the United States Department of Energy, initiated a series of studies on customer response to utility regulatory pricing early in 1975. The studies that comprise the Electric Utility Rate Demonstration Project had three major objectives: (a) to demonstrate to utilities and to utility regulators the viability and customer acceptance of innovative electric rates, (b) to gather empirical data on the impact of such rates on customers and class electricity consumption patterns, and (c) to transfer the results of comprehensive analysis of these data nationwide. The project consists of a five-part study for each of the eleven participating states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Part 1, the Customer Survey Response File, contains a wide variety of questions that cover attitudes and behavior on energy-related matters as well as appliance inventories and economic information. Part 2, the Demographic Data File, contains summary demographic, household, and appliance data for participants in the experiment. Part 3, the Utility Load Data Group File, contains the participating utilites' net system load. Hourly temperature, wind speed, and humidity by appropriate geographic areas are stored in Part 4, the Weather Data Group File. Each record contains 28 days of data for a specific weather station. Part 5, the Usage Data Group File, has data recording individual consumption of electricity.