UTILITY PORTALS FOR MANAGING DEMAND-RESPONSE EVENTS

摘要

Various utility portals that enable utility companies to manage demand-response events are disclosed. The disclosed utility portals include several different options for enabling utility companies to communicate information to and received information from an energy management system. The energy management system can host the portal and can carry out a demand response event via intelligent, network-connected devices based on information provided by the utility company.

主权项

1. A utility portal interface for use by a utility company for managing demand response events, comprising:
a customer management module operable to enable a utility operator to assign at least one parameter to each energy consumer that is enrolled to participate in a demand response program, wherein the at least one parameter associates each energy consumer with at least one of a plurality of groups; and a scheduling module operable to:
enable the utility operator to define at least one attribute of a future demand response event, wherein the at least one attribute comprises at least one of a date at which the future demand response event is to begin, a demand response event period, and an identity of at least one of the groups of energy consumers for potential inclusion in the future demand response event;display information associated with at least one of the identified groups, wherein the information comprises an indication as to whether the identified group is available for inclusion in the future demand response event; andenable the utility operator to selectively include at least one of the available identified groups for participation in the future demand response event.