Abstract
Monthly expenditure on electricity by most
households in South Africa take beyond acceptable percentage of
their income. In order to keep the household energy expenditure
below the energy poverty threshold, a daily electricity optimization
problem is formulated using mixed integer linear programming
(MILP) method. The energy optimization scheduling was carried
out by a device called the Daily Maximum Energy Scheduling
(DMES) device proposed to be incorporated into smart meters of
households. The DMES algorithm was tested with household data
set and was shown to be capable of ensuring that households spend
less than 10% of their income on electricity bill monthly. This
technique therefore, would be beneficial to consumers (for better
financial savings and planning), utility (for effective energy and
financial savings, and energy network planning) and cleaner
environments as proposed for smart grid. Also, number of
households in the nation living below the energy expenditure-based
poverty threshold would increase.