Real Time Pricing based Appliance Scheduling

in Home Energy Management using

Optimization Techniques

Basit Amin1 , Adia Khalid1 , Muhammad Azeem Sarwar1 , Asad Ghaffar1 , Adnan
Satti1 , Nasir Ayub1 , and Nadeem Javaid1,∗

Abstract In this paper, appliance scheduling scheme is proposed for residential

area.different types of heuristic and meta-heuristic optimization techniques are be-
ing used to solve the general problem of electricity demand. in this paper, a unique
swarm based optimization technique Elephant Herding Optimization (EHO) is used
to manage the electricity demand in order to manage the single home appliances in
such a way that reduction of electricity cost is achieved and certain point of user
comfort. for this purpose Real Time Pricing (RTP) scheme is used in this paper for
electricity cost. To validate the effectiveness of proposed scheme simulations are
performed. the results of EHO are compared with the results of Enhanced Differen-
tial Evolution (EDE). The simulations show that proposed scheme i.e. EHO provide
best optimal results in achieving the minimum electricity cost and user comfort at
certain point..

1 Introduction

The usage of electricity is increasing day by day in residential area and commer-
cial area as well. Because of the increasing demand of electricity the utility com-
panies facing different problems such as utility management, energy storage, and
climate issue. In order to tackle these problems, changes are must to occur in util-
ity companies. Smart grid provides more electricity to meet increasing demand. It
also increases reliability and quality of power supplies. To meet the increasing de-
mand of electricity lots of work is done by different researchers in home energy
management systems. This management lead to the demand side management. De-
mand side management is also know as demand response. Basic goal of demand
side management is to encourage the consumer to use less energy in On-Peak hours
or to shift the usage of energy from On-Peak hours to Off-Peak hours. To achieve

1 COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan

∗ Correspondence: www.njavaid.com, nadeemjavaidqau@gmail.com

1
2 Basit Amin et al.

these goals different heuristics techniques are used to schedule the appliances in
residential area. The meta-heuristic algorithms such as Genetic Algorithm (GA) ,
Harmony Search Algorithm (HSA) , Enhanced Differential Evaluation (EDE) and
many other techniques are used.
In this paper, EHO technique is implemented to schedule the home appliances in
order to achieve the reduction in electricity cost. Another technique EDE is also im-
plemented in this paper to validate the results of EHO. Which shows that the EHO
outperformed the EDE technique in electricity cost reduction.

The main focus of this paper is the reduction of electricity cost by scheduling
the home appliances. for this purpose different types of pricing schemes are used
by the utility companies to manage the load in on-Peak hours. The consumer can
shift their load from on-peak hours to off peak hours using pricing scheme. By using
this consumer can minimize their electricity cost with certain level of user comfort.
In this paper we consider the RTP pricing scheme to shift the load. In RTP pricing
scheme, the utility companies provide the rate of specific hour to consumer and
charge by hourly usage of electricity. The consumer can shift the electricity load
from high pricing hours to low pricing hours. By using RTP consumer is able to
reduce their electricity bill while consuming the energy they require for them.
The Figure 1, shows the smart grid for residential area. The power is generated
through different methods, i.e. wind power, thermal power, and hydro power etc.

Fig. 1 Smart Grid

The rest of the paper is structured as; II section includes the study of related work.
The III section describe the proposed system model then section IV discuses the
Appliance Scheduling in HEM using EDE and EHO 3

simulations and results of the proposed model. At the end the research work or
contribution is concluded in section V.

2 Related work

In recent years lot of work is done in DSM for residential consumers in smart grid.
Some of the recent work is discussed here in this section. There are many types of
optimization techniques used for Home Energy Management System (HEMS). The
related work discussed 4 types of different techniques: Heuristic Algorithm, Integer
Linear Program, Game Approach and Stochastic optimization technique.
Some of the authors prefer heuristic techniques for solving the HEMS optimiza-
tion problems. In the paper [1], the authors used GA technique and combination of
Real Time Price (RTP) and Inclined Block Rate (IBR) pricing scheme. The HEMS
is responsible to achieve the effective reduction in cost and reduction in Peak to
Average Ratio (PAR). The time taken is 120 slots per day where each slot repre-
sents 12 minutes. The authors in paper [2], present the DSM model for both util-
ity and consumers. The heuristic techniques used are: GA, Ant Colony Optimiza-
tion (ACO) and Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO). The combination of
TOU and IBR pricing scheme is used to calculate the electricity cost. The results
of each heuristic technique is compared with each other in which, GA outperforms
the other two techniques to achieve the objective. The four heuristic techniques and
one hybrid technique is used in paper [3] to solve the defined problem. The problem
addressed by the authors is to reduce the cost and to maximize the user comfort.
The heuristic algorithms used are: GA, BPSO, Wind Driven Optimization (WDO),
BFAO and the other technique used is hybrid of GA and WDO which is called as
Genetic Wind Driven (GWD) algorithm. In [4], model for household appliances
operation scheduling is presented. The authors used commercial software CPLEX
and heuristic approaches such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and greedy
algorithm to solve the problem. The expected outcome is achieved by proposing the
optimized model. The main drawback of these papers is that the user comforts is
ignored.
The authors in [5] propose mechanism for home area load management. The aim
was to minimize the peak load and satisfy both the user comfort and requirement of
all appliances. Integer Linear Programming (ILP) approach is considered for opti-
mization solution in this research. The TOU is used as pricing scheme to calculate
the electricity cost. The drawback of this research is that the electricity cost is ig-
nored because with the preference or comfort maximization the electricity cost will
also increase. In [6], the authors used Taguchi Loss Function to formulate the dis-
comfort. The problem was to overcome the trade-off between discomfort and elec-
tricity payments by scheduling the appliances. Day ahead pricing scheme is used
to schedule the appliances. The consumer schedules the appliances in response to
the announced price of electricity by service provider one day ahead. The problem
of load scheduling and power trading in system with high penetration of RES in
4 Basit Amin et al.

identified in [7] by the authors. With high penetration of RESs, the power may flow
from Distributed Generators (DGs) to substations, which negatively impact the sta-
bility of system. This reverse flow of power may cause the voltage rise problem.
To tackle this problem users consume their generating power locally then injecting
the excess power back into grid. The authors model the interaction between users
and formulate the problem of selecting the offered price and output generation. For
formulation, the authors considered the mixed-integer linear program technique. An
approximate dynamic programming approach is also used to schedule the operation
of appliances. The main flaw is that the authors of the paper ignored the initial cost
in installation and maintenance cost of RES. The initial cost of the RES is too much
that it cannot be neglected.
The authors in [8], presents the model for DSM program to tackle the peak load in
residential sectors in smart grid with multiple suppliers. The interaction between the
strategies of customers and suppliers are taken into account to determine the optimal
daily load profile and the electricity price. For this purpose a non-cooperative game
theoretic approach is employed to model the DSM problems as two games. One
game is used to maximize the supplier profit and the second game aims to maximize
the customer payoff. A computationally tractable distributed algorithm is proposed
to check the Nash equilibrium between two games. Objectives are achieved by the
proposed solution but the drawback in this paper, that the author ignored the user
comfort by maximizing the payoff of customer. In [9], the authors presented the de-
mand response modeling scheme. The purpose of the modeling is the minimization
of cost and maximization of profit among the users and utility. Authors used Gen-
eralized Tit for Tat (GTFT) mechanism to model the energy scheduling problem
in DR modeling. The expected output is achieved but the user comfort is compro-
mised with minimization of electric cost. RTP based demand response algorithm is
proposed in [10] to achieve the optimal load control. The purpose of the paper is
to reduce electric cost and to reduce energy consumption in high pricing hours. A
Stackelberg game approach is used where one leader and n followers exists. The
proposed approach is able to control load during high electricity price and achieve
efficiency in load management. With control electricity cost the user comfort is com-
promised.

3 Proposed System Model

This section emphasizes on the proposed approach for smart home appliances
scheduling. The proposed approach is based on the RTP pricing scheme. The single
home is considered in this approach to get the optimal solution. The appliances of
smart home are categorized in two different types i.e. Interruptible Appliances and
Non-Interruptible Appliances. Interruptible appliances are the appliances which can
be shifted to any time slot of the day but non-interruptible appliances are the appli-
ances that cannot be shifted to other time slots and have fixed start time and Length
Appliance Scheduling in HEM using EDE and EHO 5

of Operation Time (LOT).

The figure 2 shows the system of the Energy Management Controller with categories
of appliances of single home in residential area.

Fig. 2 Energy Management Controller

Table 1 and Table 2 shows the interruptible appliances and non-interruptible ap-
pliances of smart home and their power ratings in Kwh.

Table 1 Parameters of Interruptible appliances

Appliances Power Ratings
Air Conditioner 1 1
Air Conditioner 2 1
Air Conditioner 3 1
Electric Radiator 1 1.8
Electric Radiator 2 1.8
Rice Cooker1 0.5
Rice Cooker2 0.5
Rice Cooker3 0.5
Water Heater 1.5
Dish Washer 0.6
Washing Machine 0.38
Humidifier 1 0.05
Humidifier 2 0.05
Cloth Dryer 0.8

In this approach, One hour slot is broken down into 5 further slots i.e. one slot
is equal to 12 minutes. Therefore one day has total 120 slots instead of 24 slots.
Because of 120 slots LOT for each appliance has 12 minutes resolution time.
6 Basit Amin et al.

Table 2 Parameters of Non-Interruptible appliances

Appliances Power Ratings
Electric Kettle 1 1.5
Electric Kettle 2 1.5

EDE technique is also used in this research paper to compare the results of pro-
posed technique. EDE technique; Enhancement of the Differential Evaluation (DE).
In EDE 5 types of vectors are calculated to find the fitness value. The trial vector
with minimum cost is the fitness function of EDE. The cross over rate in EDE is
0.3, 0.6 and 0.9. The fitness function calculated from trial vectors is further used to
calculate the electricity cost of the appliances. The steps of algorithm of EDE are;
Step 1: Initialize the population
Step 2: Mutation
Step 3: Cross over.
Step 4: Calculate Trails vectors with their fitness function.
Step 5: Selection: Pick trial vector with minimum cost.
Step 6: Find the greatest individual in the population.
Step 7: End
EHO is swarm based heuristic optimization technique to solve the optimization
problem. In EHO; two operators are considers as herding behavior of elephant these
operators are clan updating operator and separating operator. The clan is considered
as category of appliances where as each elephant is representing the appliances of
smart home. The clan updating operator is used to update the position of the elephant
in each clan. The updating position of each elephant in clan is determined by its
leader Matriarch. The algorithm for clan updating operator taken from paper [13] is
shown in algorithm 1 ;

Algorithm 1 Clan Updating Operator

1: for ci = 1 → nClan do
2: for j = nci → nClan do
3: update xci,j and generate Xnew,ci,j
4: if xci,j=Xbest,ci then
5: update Xci,j and generate Xnew,ci,j
6: end if
7: end forj
8: end forci

The separating operator used to separate the worst and fittest value in clan at each
generation. The separating operator is used to separate the worst elephant from clan.
The algorithm for separating operator process is shown in algorithm 2;
The herding behavior of the elephant mapped into the HEMS is shown in Table 3.
The clan is considered as category of appliances where as each elephant is repre-
sented as appliance.
Appliance Scheduling in HEM using EDE and EHO 7

Algorithm 2 Separating Operator

1: for ci = 1 → nClan do
2: Replace the worst elephant in clan Ci
3: end forci

Table 3 Mapping of EHO in HEMS

EHO Elements
Clan (Group of Elephants)
Each Elephant
Clan Updating Operator
Mapping in HEMS
Category of Appliances, i.e. In-
terruptible and Non-Interruptible
Appliances in single home
Optimal Solution

4 Simulation Results

This section discusses the simulation and results of the proposed techniques. RTP
pricing scheme is used to calculate the electricity cost of the scheduled appliances.
EDE technique is also implemented to validate the results of EHO. This section
shows the comparison of these two techniques and unscheduled.

Electricity cost in unscheduled case is 32 cent. In EDE sufficient Electricity cost

reduction is achieved using trail vectors having minimum Fitness value i.e. 29 cents.
In case of EHO the electricity cost is reduced to 24 cents from 32 cents. EHO per-
forms better in terms of the electricity bill minimization. Electricity prices of every
hour are pre defined in RTP pricing scheme. Consumer adjust their load according
to the minimum price holding hour which reduce the electricity cost overall. Max-
imum load is shifted in those hours where electricity cost is low. EHO schedule
electric cost is reduced because EHO schedule balance the load. Using clan updat-
ing operator the best optimal solution is achieved for scheduling the appliances. The
figure 3 and figure 4 shows the comparison of electricity cost of Unscheduled, EHO,
and EDE which shows that EHO out perform EDE technique in electricity cost re-
duction.

Figure 5 shows the comparison of PAR of unscheduled load, EHO, and EDE. The
comparison figure shows that PAR is minimized by EDE as compared to the EHO
and unscheduled. PAR is increased in unscheduled load because the maximum ap-
pliances operate in those hours where price of electricity is high using RTP pricing
signal which results in creating the peak in those hours. In EHO the PAR is reduced
almost 60 percent and in EDE it reduces to 80 percent with compare to unscheduled
load. In PAR reduction EDE perform better then EHO and Unscheduled.

Figure 6 shows that the maximum energy consumption values of EHO and EDE.
EHO and EDE technique utilize the energy in efficient way. EDE load is managed
by shifting the load in to Off-Peak hours that reduce the energy consumption of
8 Basit Amin et al.

3.5
Unscheduled
EHO
3 EDE

Electricity Cost (cent)

2.5

1.5

0.5

0
1 21 41 61 81 101
Time (hours)

Fig. 3 Electricity Cost Comparison using EHO and EDE

35

30

25
Total Cost (cent)

20

15

10

0
Unscheduled EHO EDE

Fig. 4 Electricity Cost Comparison

specific hour. By using RTP pricing scheme most of the appliances operate in start
Appliance Scheduling in HEM using EDE and EHO 9

40

30
PAR

20

10

0
Unscheduled EHO EDE

Fig. 5 Peak to Average Ratio

1.8
Unscheduled
1.6 EHO
EDE

1.4

1.2
Load (kWh)

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
1 21 41 61 81 101
Time (hours)
Fig. 6 Total Load of Appliances

hours. The price for electricity in start hours are less than other hours of the day.
10 Basit Amin et al.

Load is slightly increased in start hours in EHO but price for electricity does not
increase overall because the price for electricity is low in these hours.

The figure 7 shows that the waiting time of EHO and EDE. The waiting time
of EHO is slightly less than the waiting time of EDE. As the min focus of this
paper is reduction of electricity cost. The waiting time of the EHO is compromised
at certain level. As there is trade-off between electricity cost and user comfort, if
electricity cost is minimized the user comfort cannot be minimized but can be kept
at certain level. The difference between waiting time of both of the techniques less.
The waiting time of the EHO in whole day is 28 mins where as the waiting time of
EDE 32.

35

30

25
waiting time (mins)

20

15

10

0
EHO EDE

Fig. 7 Waiting Time

5 Conclusion

In this paper, consumption of electricity in HEMS is managed by scheduling of

appliances. The main objective of the paper is to reduce the electricity cost which
is achieved. The main objective is achieved by implementing EHO technique to
schedule the appliances. The RTP pricing scheme is used in this paper. The EDE
technique is also implemented in this paper to compare the results of EHO. The
simulation results show that the EHO outperform the EDE in order to achieve the
Appliance Scheduling in HEM using EDE and EHO 11

minimum electricity cost. User comfort is also achieved at certain level as there is
a trade-off between electricity cost and user comfort. But PAR in EDE is reduced
more than EHO.

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