Lifestyle Segmentation Based on Energy Consumption Data

After deploying a large number of smart meters, utilities are challenged with managing a massive set of interval energy consumption data and decoding the information into meaningful measures that can help them. These new tasks need a more detailed understanding of customers than was previously sought because customers vary widely in their usage, needs, and suitability for different programs and pricing packages. Defining and describing different customer segments will equip decision makers with information to advance not only in pricing and program marketing but also resource allocation and program development. Therefore, among many applications, customer lifestyle segmentation can unlock potential energy-savings and can help utilities understand operating requirements and better coordinate energy resources for grid management. This paper focuses on how to segment customers' lifestyles based on their electricity consumption data and provides suggestions on which lifestyle groups can be good candidates for certain energy programs based on the segmentation result.