Optimal Time of Use Electricity Pricing Model and Its Application to Electrical Distribution System

Because the time of use (TOU) strategies can directly affect the power flow distribution of electrical distribution system, this paper investigates the optimal TOU electricity pricing model and its functions for improving the power quality and reducing the power loss of electrical distribution system. Firstly, an optimal period partitioning algorithm based on a moving boundary technique is proposed for dividing an entire day to the different periods. Secondly, an optimal TOU electricity pricing model is proposed through minimizing the peak-valley difference, the voltage fluctuation, and the power loss. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is adopted to solve the proposed optimization problem, and the multi-objective constrained optimization problem is transformed into a single objective unconstrained optimization problem. Thirdly, two novel indices of describing the voltage variation and the power loss are defined for considering the impact of TOU strategies and improving the power quality and reducing the power loss. Finally, an IEEE 14-bus system is applied to verifying the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method. The results prove that the algorithm which proposed in this paper has a great significance in improving the power quality and the economic benefits of electrical distribution system.