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User Guide
November 2017
Centre for Energy and Environmental Market (CEEM)
University of New South Wales, Australia
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 2
EXE C U TI VE SUMMARY
This document introduces the Tariff Design and Analysis (TDA) tool, developed by Centre for Energy and
Environmental Markets (CEEM), at the University of New South Wales with support from the Australian
PV Institute (APVI). The TDA project was supported by Energy Consumers Australia. The open source TDA
tool aims to assist stakeholders, including consumer advocates and researchers, to investigate how
different tariff structures impact on the expected bills of different types of residential consumers, while
also estimating how well the tariffs align these customer bills with their impact on longer-term network
costs. The tool builds on research and analysis currently being undertaken by CEEM and aims to support
submissions to network pricing and tariff structure proposals.
Authors:
Navid Haghdadi, Rob Passey, Anna Bruce, Sharon Young, and Iain MacGill
CEEM, UNSW
November 2017
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 3
CONT E N T S
1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 5
2 Term of use ..................................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Acknowledgment ..................................................................................................................... 7
3 Installation ....................................................................................................................................... 8
4 database .......................................................................................................................................... 9
4.1 Smart Grid Smart City ............................................................................................................... 9
4.2 Ausgrid 300 solar homes .......................................................................................................... 9
4.3 Electricity network tariffs ......................................................................................................... 9
5 Getting started! ............................................................................................................................. 11
5.1 Running the tool .................................................................................................................... 11
5.2 Menu bar ............................................................................................................................... 12
5.2.1 Project ............................................................................................................................ 12
5.2.2 Load ............................................................................................................................... 12
5.2.3 Tariff .............................................................................................................................. 12
5.2.4 Export ............................................................................................................................ 12
5.2.5 Preferences .................................................................................................................... 13
5.2.6 Help ............................................................................................................................... 13
5.3 Selecting Load ........................................................................................................................ 13
5.4 Creating new load data .......................................................................................................... 15
5.4.1 “Load” sheet format ....................................................................................................... 16
5.4.2 “Info” sheet format ........................................................................................................ 16
5.4.3 Sample file...................................................................................................................... 16
5.5 Network load ......................................................................................................................... 17
5.6 Selecting A Tariff .................................................................................................................... 18
5.6.1 Tariff components .......................................................................................................... 19
5.6.2 Adding analysis ............................................................................................................... 19
5.7 Creating new tariff ................................................................................................................. 20
5.8 Visualising the analysis ........................................................................................................... 24
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 4
5.8.2 Info panel ....................................................................................................................... 26
5.8.3 Single Variable Graphs .................................................................................................... 27
5.8.4 Dual Variable Graphs ...................................................................................................... 29
5.8.5 Single Case Graphs ......................................................................................................... 30
5.9 Exporting the results .............................................................................................................. 31
6 Feedback on the software .............................................................................................................. 32
Section 1: Introduction
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 5
1 INTRO DU CTION
Recent regulatory reform efforts in the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM) have included a
number of rule changes aiming to contain electricity price rises driven by network investment by
distributed network service providers (DNSPs). One focus area has been the economic inefficiencies of
current network tariff arrangements, particularly for residential and small business consumers. These
tariffs are typically shaped by limited metering capabilities and equity considerations and have generally
involved a major volumetric consumption component. This tariff structure doesn’t clearly reflect the role
of consumer contributions to network peak demand and hence in overall DNSP expenditure.
As part of the regulatory reform efforts, a distribution network pricing rule change has been implemented,
effective for the current regulatory periods. The new rule requires that network tariffs should be more
‘cost reflective’, motivated by the idea that efficient prices will change consumer behaviour, which in turn
will improve load factors, reduce network congestion and lower average costs for consumers. DNSPs are
given considerable discretion over the specific implementation of the rule, which provides broad pricing
principles only. The rule states that network tariffs should be based on the long-run marginal costs (LRMC)
of providing the service, and that the revenue to the network should reflect the efficient costs of providing
the services to each consumer class. However, DNSPs are able to determine how to calculate their LRMC,
how this is reflected in the tariff design and how residual costs should be collected. As DNSP tariff
structures must balance efficient pricing considerations with fairness and the ability of consumers to
understand and respond to the tariffs, there is considerable scope for a variety of tariff designs to emerge.
In recent submissions, DNSPs have put forward a number of tariffs of varying structure and complexity. It
is challenging to assess how each tariff will impact on different consumer groups, and how well they can
provide efficient price signals and address existing cross-subsidy issues.
Preliminary analysis indicates that many of the tariff proposals now being put forward by DNSPs under
the new rule might not provide appropriate price signals to consumers regarding their investment and
behaviour, and may disadvantage some consumer groups. For instance, in the majority of proposed
network tariffs, the fixed daily charge component is being increased, resulting in high unavoidable costs,
particularly for low energy consuming (often vulnerable) customers. Special tariffs are also being
proposed for certain classes of customers (e.g. Solar PV System owners), while in some areas, customers
are being transferred to new tariffs under opt-out arrangements, leaving them vulnerable to potentially
disadvantageous new tariffs. In addition, there are concerns that even what are claimed to be cost-
reflective tariffs might not effectively target peak network loads (either local or region wide), and
therefore may not provide an appropriate price signal regarding the associated network costs of
consuming energy at different times and locations. Poorly designed tariffs that do not appropriately align
benefits and costs may lead to inefficient investment in both networks and demand side options, and
hence not be in the best interests of consumers. Specifically, they might act to reduce the consumer
incentives to deploy solar PV, energy efficiency, and other load management systems that can reduce
network expenditure while also delivering wider economic and environmental benefits.
Advocacy groups have expressed concern that many of the new tariffs appear to be better designed to
protect the revenue of DNSPs in a context of falling demand and uptake of demand-side technologies,
Section 1: Introduction
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 6
rather than to encourage efficient use of the network and future investment. This is of particular concern
as these distributed energy technologies have the potential to provide competition for network services
in the interests of consumers, enabling new participants, opportunities for innovation, and reduced
emissions.
It is possible for groups or individuals to make submissions to the regulator regarding tariff design.
However, given significant information asymmetry between network service providers and other
stakeholders, including both consumers and regulators; advocacy organisations lack the resources to put
forward robust, evidence-based analysis of the impact of proposed tariffs on different electricity
consumer groups and the incentives these tariffs might provide to customers.
The tariff design and assessment tool (TDA) is developed by CEEM, UNSW, to assist stakeholders, including
consumer advocates and researchers, to investigate how different tariff structures impact on the
expected bills of different types of residential consumers, while also estimating how well the tariffs align
these customer bills with their impact on longer-term network costs. The tool builds on research and
analysis currently being done by CEEM and APVI, and aims to support submissions to network pricing and
tariff structure proposals.
This version of the TDA uses load and survey data from over 4000 homes, collected under the Smart Grid
Smart City program, to:
• Under existing and proposed tariffs, calculate and compare for different user groups, the
distribution of:
o electricity bills,
o annual demand
o seasonal variations
• Select consumer groups on the basis of annual demand, peak load, income level, dwelling type,
household size, air conditioning type or if they use gas or have a solar PV system.
• Assess price signals from different tariffs: i.e. how well bills are correlated with variables such as
annual demand and peak load under different tariff designs.
• Compare outcomes for different consumer groups, and under different tariffs.
This document introduces different parts of the tool and provides some example analyses which can be
undertaken.
Section 2: Term of use
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 7
2 TER M O F USE
TDA is open source software for assessing existing and proposed new tariffs. It offers a range of analyses
as described in this document to assist energy market stakeholders and the wider community to analyse
the impact of different tariffs on different user groups. TDA is free software and you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation version 3. For more information about GPL 3 please refer to:
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html.
All load and tariff data currently in the tool are publicly available and free to use. The terms of use for any
further load and/or tariff data will be disclosed if added later to the tool. The Centre for Energy and
Environmental Markets (CEEM) does not guarantee the accuracy of the data nor the outputs generated
by the tool and therefore accept no responsibility for any liability arising from its use.
This is the first public stable version of the TDA and we would appreciate feedback on any issues as well
as any suggestions for new features to be added to the tool. Please use the feedback button on the tool
or send an email directly to n.haghdadi@unsw.edu.au should you have any questions/suggestions.
2.1 A CKNOWLEDGMENT
Development of the TDA was founded by Energy Consumers Australia, project
'Tariff Assessment Tool’ No
814.
We acknowledge AusGrid for making available the load data.
Section 3: Installation
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 8
3 INST A L L A T ION
TDA tool is developed in MATLAB 2016b and packaged in an executable function file so that it can be run
from any Windows/Mac platform (even from a USB flash memory). You can find the software one of the
following ways:
1- GitHub platform where you can also download the Matlab source code.
https://github.com/UNSW-CEEM
2- CEEM website along with description of the project and related research undergoing at CEEM
http://ceem.unsw.edu.au/cost-reflective-tariff-design
3- ResearchGate project page where you can follow the project to track ongoing updates.
https://www.researchgate.net/project/Tariff-Design-and-Analysis-TDA-Tool
Please download the TDA.zip and unzip it in a non-shared folder on your own computer and keep the
whole contents of the folder as deleting the original files of the software may result in its failure. If the
Matlab 2016b or later version is already installed, the TDA software will most likely run without any
prerequisite. Otherwise you will need to install the Matlab Compiler Runtime (MCR) version 9.1 to run the
TDA application. MCR is a standalone set of shared libraries that enables the execution of compiled
MATLAB applications or components on computers that do not have MATLAB installed. The latest version
of MCR can be downloaded and installed for free from link below (size ~900mb):
http://au.mathworks.com/products/compiler/mcr/
If you have administrator rights on your computer:
- Download, unzip and run the MCR_R2016b_win64_installer.exe (for windows) or
MCR_R2016b_maci64_installer.dmg.zip (for Mac) and follow the interactive install (you may need
to use comment “./install” and probably your computer username and password for macOS).
To install the MATLAB Runtime as a user without administrator rights on Windows follow the steps below:
1- Use the MATLAB Runtime installer to install it on a Windows machine where you have
administrator rights.
2- Copy the folder where the MATLAB Runtime was installed to the machine without administrator
rights. You can compress the folder into a zip file and distribute to multiple users.
3- On the machine without administrator rights, add the mcr_root\runtime\arch directory onto the
user's path environment variable (You don't need administrator rights for adding directories to a
user's path environment variable).
More information can be found here: https://au.mathworks.com/help/compiler_sdk/dotnet/install-the-
matlab-runtime.html. The MCR needs to be installed only once. For any additional updates of the
software, it is only necessary to run the software.
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 9
4 DAT A B ASE
There are different sources of data available in the tool. It includes load data and tariff data. The original
load data (available in TDA v1) includes Ausgrid 300 homes (three years, with and without solar
contribution), and Smart Grid Smart City load profiles. The tariff data was obtained from multiple
documents available in network businesses tariff structure explanations, and is updated each year.
4.1 SMART GRID SMAR T C I TY
The Smart Grid Smart City (SGSC) project aimed to collect data from more than 8000 residential homes.
Some of the homes also have demographic survey data. In this tool we have used 4050 homes which had
data available for 2013, and their survey data. The half hourly power consumption of residential users as
well as their demographic information are available within the tool. For more information regarding this
dataset refer to:
https://data.gov.au/dataset/smart-grid-smart-city-electric-vehicle-trial-data
4.2 A U SG RID 300 SO LA R HO M E S
The half hourly data of Ausgrid 300 solar homes spans from July 2010 to June 2013 and can be selected
for one year at a time. As the gross solar generation is also available for these homes, the new net load
(subtracting PV generation from load) is also made available in the tool. Information about the 300 solar
homes is available at: http://www.ausgrid.com.au/Common/About-us/Corporate-information/Data-to-
share/Solar-home-electricity-data.aspx#.WcSaPcgjGUk
4.3 E L E CTRICITY NETWO R K TARIFFS
A large number of existing and proposed network tariffs from different states are available in the tool. For
information regarding the tariff parameters refer to Menu: Tariff > Tariff Info. You can also click on the
“i” button beside the list of tariffs (when selecting a tariff) to open a folder with information about the
tariff. The tool also currently has six retail tariffs. The list of tariffs currently in the tool is shown below.
You can however modify any of the tariffs in the tool or create a new tariff as described later in this
document.
No.
State
Provider
Type
Name
Date
1 ACT ActewAGL Demand Charge ActewAGL Demand Charge 2017/18 2017/18
2
ACT
ActewAGL
Flat Rate
ActewAGL Flat Rate 2017/18
2017/18
3 ACT ActewAGL TOU ActewAGL TOU 2017/18 2017/18
4 NSW AGL Flat Rate AGL Flat Rate 2017/18
5 NSW AGL TOU AGL TOU 2017/18
6
NSW
AusGrid
Block Quarterly
AusGrid Block 2015/16
2015/16
7
NSW
AusGrid
Flat Rate
AusGrid Flat Rate 2017/18
2017/18
8
NSW
AusGrid
TOU
AusGrid TOU 2015
/16
2015/16
9 NSW AusGrid TOU AusGrid TOU 2017/18 2017/18
10 NSW Endeavour Energy Block Quarterly Endeavour Block Q 2015/16 2015/16
11 NSW Endeavour Energy Flat Rate Endeavour Flat Rate 2017/18 2017/18
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 10
12 NSW Endeavour Energy TOU Endeavour TOU 2015/16 2015/16
13 NSW Endeavour Energy TOU Endeavour TOU 2017/18 2017/18
14
NSW
Energy Australia
Flat Rate
Energy Australia Flat Rate
2017/18
15
NSW
Energy Australia
TOU
Energy Australia TOU
2017/18
16
NSW
Essential Energy
Block Quarterly
Essential Energy Blo
ck 2015/16
2015/16
17 NSW Essential Energy Flat Rate Essential Energy Flat Rate 2017/18 2017/18
18 NSW Essential Energy TOU Essential Energy TOU 2015/16 2015/16
19 NSW Essential Energy TOU Essential Energy TOU 2017/18 2017/18
20
NSW
Origin
Flat Rate
Or
igin Flat Rate
2017/18
21
NSW
Origin
TOU
Origin TOU
2017/18
22 QLD Energex Demand Charge Energex Demand Charge 2017/18 2017/18
23 QLD Energex Demand Charge Energex Demand 2015/16 2015/16
24 QLD Energex Flat Rate Energex Flat Rate 2017/18 2017/18
25 QLD Energex Flat Rate Energex Flat Rate 2015/16 2015/16
26
QLD
Energex
TOU
Energex TOU 2017/18
2017/18
27
QLD
Energex
TOU
Energex TOU
2015/16
2015/16
28
QLD
Ergon Energy
Block Annual
Ergon Block (East) 2017/18
2017/18
29 QLD Ergon Energy Block Annual Ergon Block (West) 2017/18 2017/18
30 QLD Ergon Energy Block Annual Ergon Block 2015/16 2015/16
31 QLD Ergon Energy Demand Charge Ergon Residential Demand 2015/16 2015/16
32
QLD
Ergon Energy
TOU Seasonal
Ergon TOU Seasonal
2015/16
2015/16
33
QLD
Ergon Energy
TOU Seasonal
Ergon TOU seasona
l (East) 2017/18
2017/18
34
QLD
Ergon Energy
TOU Seasonal
Ergon TOU seasonal (West) 2017/18
2017/18
35 QLD Ergon Energy Demand Charge Erogn Demand Charge (East Region 1) 2017/18 2017/18
36 QLD Ergon Energy Demand Charge Erogn Demand Charge (East Region 2) 2017/18 2017/18
37 QLD Ergon Energy Demand Charge Erogn Demand Charge (East Region 3) 2017/18 2017/18
38
QLD
Ergon Energy
Demand Charge
Erogn Demand Charge (West Region 1) 2017/18
2017/18
39
QLD
Ergon Energy
Demand Charge
Erogn Demand Charge (West
Region 2) 2017/18
2017/18
40 QLD Ergon Energy Demand Charge Erogn Demand Charge (West Region 3) 2017/18 2017/18
41 SA SAPN Block Quarterly SAPN Block Quarterly 2017/18 2017/18
42 SA SAPN Demand Charge SAPN Demand charge 2017/18 2017/18
43 TAS TasNetworks Flat Rate TASNetworks Flat rate 2017/18 2017/18
44
TAS
TasNetworks
TOU
TasNetworks TOU 2017/18
2017/18
45
TAS
TasNetworks
Demand Charge
TasNetworks Demand Charge 2017/18
2017/18
46
VIC
AusNet
Block Quarterly
AusNet Block Quarterly 2017/18
2017/18
47 VIC AusNet TOU Seasonal AusNet TOU Seasonal 2015/16 2015/16
48 VIC AusNet TOU Seasonal AusNet TOU seasonal 2017/18 2017/18
l49 VIC CitiPower Demand Charge CitiPower Demand charge 2017/18 2017/18
50
VIC
CitiPower
Flat Rate
CitiPower Flat Rate 2017/18
2017/18
51
VIC
CitiPower
TOU
CitiPower TOU 2017/18
2017/18
52
VIC
Jemena
Demand Charge
Jemena Demand Charge 2017/18
2017/18
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 11
53 VIC Jemena Flat Rate Jemena Flat Rate 2017/18 2017/18
54 VIC Jemena TOU Jemena TOU 2017/18 2017/18
55
VIC
Powercor
Demand Charge
Powerc
or Demand Charge 2017/18
2017/18
56
VIC
Powercor
Flat Rate
Powercor Flat Rate 2017/18
2017/18
57
VIC
Powercor
TOU
Powercor TOU 2017/18
2017/18
58 VIC United Energy Demand Charge United Energy Demand Charge 2017/18 2017/18
59 VIC United Energy Flat Rate Seasonal United Energy Flat rate seasonal 2017/18 2017/18
60 VIC United Energy TOU Seasonal United Energy TOU Seasonal 2017/18 2017/18
5 GETTI N G S T ARTED!
The tariff analysis tool is designed to assist stakeholders to investigate how different tariff structures
impact on the expected bills of different types of residential consumers. The tool offers a range of different
analysis and result visualisations as described in this section. In summary the tool allows users to:
- Create projects and add analysis to different projects for later referral
- Choose from the existing load profiles (more than 5000 annual household load profiles)
- Filter the load profiles based on the available demographic information
- Import new load profile and demographic information
- Visualise the individual and aggregate load profiles using multiple methods including seasonal
pattern, peak analysis, annual energy distribution, daily interquartile range, etc
- Apply the network tariffs available in the tool (60+ tariffs for different Australian States) to
calculate the annual bill based on any subset of the load profiles
- Apply the retail tariffs available in the tool
- Modify the parameters of the tariffs to investigate the impacts on annual bills
- Investigate different components of the network bill (DUOS, TUOS, and NUOS) to calculate the
revenue for different sectors (distribution, transmission, etc). This can also be done for the retail
component where retail tariffs are available
- Adjusting the network peak time to see the impact on the tariffs based on the coincident peak
demand
- Create different types of new tariffs including, flat rate, time of use, block usage, demand charge,
etc
- Compare the results of multiple analyses in different visualisation platforms including single
variable comparison, dual variable comparison, and individual cases
- Export the figures, and copy them into clipboard to incorporate in any report
- Export the results to excel file to do further analysis on the results outside the tool
The rest of this section introduces different parts of the tool and gives instructions on how to work with
the tool.
5.1 R U N NING THE TO OL
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 12
The TDA tool does not need to installed in your computer. You only need to run the tool and do the
analysis. In order to import and export the data properly (such as selecting load data, exporting result,
etc), you need to keep all contents of the TDA folder. If you save a project, or create a new load/tariff, it
will be also saved in this folder. Windows users need to run the TDA.exe and work with the tool. But if you
are using Mac, each time you open the software, it will ask you to locate the TDA folder in your computer.
Once asked, you should find the TDA folder and open it and then work with the tool.
5.2 M E NU BAR
5.2. 1 P R OJECT
While you are working with the tariff tool, you may want to save your current session for later referral.
You can “save” the project, and later “open” the project with your saved analysis loaded in the tool. You
can also delete any of the previously saved projects. You can also restart the tool to delete all analysis
currently displaying on the tool and restart your analysis. If you do not save the project, the project name
will be shown as “undefined” and any analysis will be lost if you close the software. Restarting the tool
does not delete any project or load data. But any analyses after the last save will be lost. You cannot
restore any deleted projects!
5.2. 2 L O A D
Using this menu, you can import new load data, delete any of the existing load data, or restore to the
original load data list. Section 5.4 explains how to import new load data. You can also define the network
load as described in 5.5. We will provide new load data as it becomes available. In that case you can just
download the load data (.mat file) and put it in the “Data” directory in the TDA folder. You can check for
new updates by clicking on Menu: Help > Check for Update.
You can also set the maximum amount of missing data allowed as well as the down-sample rate (where a
smaller percentage of the sample can be randomly selected, as described in section 5.3). By restoring the
load data, any new load data you created will be lost.
5.2. 3 T ARIFF
You can create new tariffs, obtain the excel file with all the parameters of all the tariffs used in this tool
and also reset the tariff lists to the original list of tariffs. We will provide new tariff data as it becomes
available. As new tariffs are generally introduced every year, new versions will be made available and you
can download them and copy them in the “Data” directory in the TDA folder as advised in the update
page.
NOTE. By resetting the tariffs, any new tariffs you have created or modified will be lost and this cannot be
undone!
5.2. 4 E XPORT
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 13
You can export the figure currently showing in the tool (ctrl+E) or copy it to the clipboard (ctrl+C) so you
can paste it in another document, email, etc. You can also export the data directly from the figure (ctrl+D)
or export the whole case’s results as described in section 5.8.
5.2. 5 P R E FERENCES
Using this menu, you can specify some options such as ‘ask to name new cases’, ‘confirm before exiting
the tool’, and ‘confirm before deleting some items’.
5.2. 6 H E L P
The option “About” provides information about the software. You can click on any of three options (CEEM
webpage, Researchgate project page, or GitHub page) for more information, updates, and comments
about the software. You can also open the instruction file via the “Users’ Guide” option and give feedback
on the software, and subscribe to receive the latest news of the software.
Please note that due to some issues with internet security programs, the options to send feedback or
subscribe may not work properly in some cases. If you experience this issue and receive any error
message, or if you successfully submit your request but don’t receive an email confirmation, please send
an email to n.haghdadi@unsw.edu.au with your feedback or subscription request.
5.3 SELECTING LOAD
You can select one of the existing load datasets in the tool by choosing from the dropdown list as shown
in Figure 1. Before importing, you can specify the maximum allowed missing data from the menu: Load >
Maximum Allowed Missing Data (%). The default value is 5%, which means only homes with less than 5%
missing intervals will be loaded. You can change this each time you select a new load. You can also down-
sample the load data to speed up the calculation by selecting from menu: Load > Down-sample Users
(Random Selection). The default option is 100% (full data) which loads the whole dataset. 50% means
randomly selecting 50% of the homes, and so forth. Please note, each time you press “Set”, a new subset
will be randomly selected, so multiple selection of one load dataset with the same down-sample value
will result in different users being selected.
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 14
Figure 1 Selecting load data
You can see the number of homes loaded into the software in the below part of the “Select Load” panel.
Each dataset can be selected, and the analysis can be done based on the whole or part of that dataset
which is grouped by demographic information. If the demographic information is available for any load
data, it will be shown below the dropdown list (see Figure 1). You can then filter the load based on any
part of the demographic information. The number of homes obtained with any particular filter is shown.
There is also a set of diagrams which show the individual or aggregate behaviour of the selected load
profile. So, you can see the load pattern while selecting the filters. In some of the figure options, you can
see and compare the filtered load (by missing data%, down-sampling, and demographic filters) with the
whole dataset. This is particularly useful if you want to check if important information (e.g. load profile on
a peak day) is similar in the down-sampled load and the whole dataset. If you see a significant difference
you may load the demand data again to randomise the users and load a new group. You can change the
diagram type from the dropdown list. You can choose the following options (Figure 2):
• Annual Average Profile
• Daily Profiles
• Daily Profile Interquartile Range (25%, 50%, and 75% of load)
• Daily kWh Histogram
• Average Load Duration Curve (sorted aggregate load profile in kW in descending order)
• Average Peak Day Profile (daily pattern in highest aggregate peak day)
• Monthly Average kWh
• Seasonal Daily Pattern (average daily load pattern in summer and winter months)
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 15
Figure 2 Load graph options
5.4 C R EATING NEW LO AD D ATA
You can also import a new load data by clicking on the “Import load data” on the main menu option
“Load”. Press the “Create new” button and upload the excel file containing the load profile from your
computer. The excel file should contain two sheets with names “Load”, and “Info” containing the half
Section 2: Getting Started!
Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 16
hourly data and demographic information. If there is no “Info” sheet, the software will not import the
demographic information, and if there is no “Load” sheet, the import will not be processed and an error
message will be shown.
5.4. 1 “ LO AD” SHEET FORM AT
The first column of the load data sheet should contain the timestamp of the load profile and it should be
exactly one-year of data. The data should be half hourly with the timestamp showing the end of each time
period. Therefore, for example if the data is for year July 2012 to June 2013, it should start with 1 July
2012 00:30:00 and end with 30 June 2013 00:00:00.
Please note the tool can handle only one year of data. However, you can analyse more years of load data
individually by uploading them as separate years.
The first row of the “Load” sheet should contain the home numbers and the following rows will contain
the actual load data in kWh. Any empty cell or non-numeric data will be considered as a missing value.
Any negative values will be considered but please note the tariff tool does not calculate any premium for
exporting power, so the negative values will be ignored in the tariff calculation, but they will have an
impact on the network load if you choose the network load to be calculated based on the aggregation of
the household load data. The network load is described in more detail in section 5.5.
Please note the tool only works with a half hourly load profile. You should convert your load data to half
hourly (by averaging higher resolution data such as 15 min data or repeating lower resolution data such
as hourly).
5.4. 2 “ INFO” SHEET FO R M AT
Any information about the household can be put in this sheet, and once imported it will show up in the
demographic information section. This can be the type of household, dwelling type, income group, etc. A
maximum of 10 types of demographic info can be put in the excel file. The tool will group the information
and let the tool operator filter the homes based on any of the demographic info when selecting the load
data. If you want to include more than 10 types of demographic info, you can upload the same load profile
but with different demographic info. The first row of this sheet should contain the type of info (for
example: “Dwelling type”). The first row contains the Home numbers (to match with the home number in
the “Load” sheet).
5.4. 3 S AMPLE FILE
A sample file is also provided that you can use as a reference for the required format. You can also paste
your load and info data into this file and save as a new file on your computer and load that when creating
a new load dataset. You can open this file by pressing “Open sample file” option.
Please note, failing to follow the required format will result in an unsuccessful load import. If you receive
an error, make sure you follow the instructions carefully. The home IDs should be in “number” format (i.e.
do not use home 1, etc.) and these numbers will be used to match the load and demographic information
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so please make sure they are identical. If you have or know of any load data which can be made available,
please let us know so we can put the load data into the tool. Another option is to send us your excel files
containing the load and demographic data, and we will create the “.Mat” file for you - so you just need to
put the mat file in the TDA folder, Data directory instead of importing the load yourself. We won’t of
course make the data available without your permission.
5.5 N E T WORK LOAD
When you create a new load file, an assumed network load profile is also created by summing all the
households’ data over the year. You can specify in the tool if you want to use this network load for finding
the network peak time or instead use a new network load. Under the menu “Load”, select the option
“Network load”. You can select the network load profile to be the aggregation of the selected database
load profiles, or the aggregation of the filtered load profile (only selected homes with specified
demographic information), or based on a synthetic network load profile which you have previously
created (see Figure 3). You can create a new synthetic network load profile by uploading a new csv file.
You can have only one synthetic network load profile at a time so if you want to check multiple network
load profiles you will need to upload the desired load profile each time. In order to create the new
synthetic network load profile, put the network load in a csv file with the first column being the
timestamp, and the second column being the network load. The first row will be ignored. You can also
open the sample file, paste your new network load (or only adjust the load at timestamps you want) in
that and save it as a new file in your computer, then import it as the synthetic network load file. The
sample file provided has a flat rate of value 1 so you can increase the values in different months, days,
and hours to see the impact of different network load peak times. As the tool analyses only one year of
load data, the network load should also be one-year of data. Also, the “year” of each timestamp is not
considered. e.g. you can import network load for 2014, and use the load of 2013 and the tool will assume
the network load is for 2013.
Figure 3 Network load options
Once you create a new synthetic network load profile, you can plot it and see the load pattern as well as
the monthly peak times and value (Figure 4). It will allow you to quickly observe the monthly peak time
and confirm if the network load profile looks correct. You can also plot the synthetic network load profile
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(or the network load profile based on the other two options) by choosing it in menu “Load > Network
Load > Plot network load pattern”.
Figure 4 Plotting the synthetic network load
5.6 SELECTING A TARIFF
Once the load data has been selected, the tariff should be selected. The state, type, provider, and year
can be used to filter the tariffs. Figure 5 shows the tariff selection panel. The “Tariff Info” option in the
“Tariff” menu will open an excel file containing all the information and parameters of the network tariffs
used in this tool. The rates shown are GST inclusive. If you want to exclude the GST, you can tick the
“Exclude GST” option. Once a tariff is selected, the options for deleting the tariff or the available
information for the tariff will appear in the “x” and “i” buttons respectively located beside the tariff
dropdown list. The info button will open a folder with all the documents used to provide the tariff details
for the selected provider (e.g. AusGrid).
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Figure 5 Selecting tariff
5.6. 1 T ARIFF COMPONEN T S
When using a network tariff, you can choose whether you want to apply the whole tariff (NUOS) or only
a component of the tariff. NUOS is “Network Use Of System” which is made up of DOUS, “Distribution Use
of System”, and TUOS, the “Transmission Use of System”. Some NUOS tariffs might include other
components (e.g. NSW Climate Change Fund or the Qld Solar Bonus Scheme). You can choose DUOS (to
evaluate the distribution revenue), TUOS (to evaluate the transmission revenue), DUOS+TUOS (to
evaluate both), and NUOS (to evaluate the actual tariff). By moving between tabs you can choose which
component you want to apply. When using a retail tariff, you can only use the entire tariff (which is in
DUOS tab, so you should select DUOS tab for those).
5.6. 2 AD DING ANALYSIS
Once you have selected the tariff (from the dropdown list) and the tariff component (by selecting the tab),
you can click on “Add” to add the analysis to the graphs. This will apply the selected component of the
tariff to the selected subset of the load and perform a variety of analyses which are described later in this
document.
Please note when you add the analysis, the tool will generate the network load data based on the option
you have selected (i.e. based on the whole database, filtered databased, or synthetic network load which
was described in section 5.5). Before adding the analysis, make sure the network load profile is selected
properly. Once the analysis has been added to the diagrams, you cannot change the network load for this
analysis. In order to do so, you may consider deleting the analysis (case) and then undertaking the analysis
again using a new network load profile. When you add a new case, the tool will ask (Figure 6) if you want
to pick a name for the new case. If you choose No, or close the dialog box, the new case will be named as
Case + number. You can disable this option (asking for naming the new case) in menu Options.
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Figure 6 Selecting name for new case
5.7 C R EATING NEW TAR I F F
The components of the tariff including daily charge, energy cost, and others are shown in the panel. Any
of the shown components can be adjusted to create a new tariff. Once any component of a tariff is
changed, the modified tariff can be saved with a new name into the list of existing tariffs. When you edit
a component, the saving option will appear. Please note, if you change any component of a tariff it won’t
automatically change in other components of that tariff. For instance, if you edit the demand window
starting hour in DUOS, it won’t change this parameter in the TUOS, DUOS+TUOS, and NUOS even if you
save the tariff. As a result, the DUOS+TUOS might no longer be the addition of DUOS and TUOS.
You can also create a new tariff from scratch by selecting it from menu, “Tariff > Create New Tariff”. There
are currently seven types of tariff which you can create:
• Flat rate, where a flat constant rate applies to the kWh usage
• Flat rate seasonal, where the rates are different in different seasons
• Block, where the rates are different for different levels of kWh
• Block quarterly, where rates are different for different levels of kWh in each quarter
• Time of use, where rates are different in different times of the day
• Time of use seasonal, where rates are different in different times of the day and different months
• Demand charge, where the tariff is applied to the household peak demand (kW) or the household
demand at the time of the network peak (kW) instead of (or in addition to) the kWh
The following tables show the tariff options and parameters.
Table 5-1 Flat rate tariff parameters
Parameters Values
Daily charge ($/day) Non-negative value
Energy cost ($/kWh) Non-negative value
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Table 5-2 Flat rate seasonal tariff parameters
Parameters Values Comment
Daily charge ($/day) Non-negative value
Energy cost ($/kWh)
Non-negative value
StartMonth 1 to 12 Start month of the season
EndMonth 1 to 12 End month of the season
Table 5-3 Block tariff parameters
Parameters Values Comment
Daily charge ($/day) Non-negative value
Energy cost ($/kWh)
Non-negative value
High Bound Non-negative value
The high bound of the block
Table 5-4 Block Quarterly tariff parameters
Parameters Values Comment
Daily charge ($/day) Non-negative value
Energy cost ($/kWh)
Non-negative value
High Bound Non-negative value
The high bound of the block in quarter
Table 5-5 Time of Use tariff parameters
Parameters Values Comment
Daily charge ($/day) Non-negative value
Energy cost ($/kWh)
Non-negative value
StartHour 0 to 23 Start hour of the time period
StartMin 0 or 30 Start minute of the time period
EndHour 0 to 23 End hour of the time period
EndMin 0 or 30 End minute of the time period
Weekday Logical (true or false)
Select if the tariff should be applied on weekdays
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Weekend Logical (true or false)
Select if the tariff should be applied on weekends
Table 5-6 Time of Use Seasonal tariff parameters
Parameters Values Comment
Daily charge ($/day) Non-negative value
Energy cost ($/kWh)
Non-negative value
StartHour 0 to 23 Start hour of the time period
StartMin 0 or 30 Start minute of the time period
EndHour 0 to 23 End hour of the time period
EndMin 0 or 30 End minute of the time period
StartMonth 1 to 12 Start month
EndMonth 1 to 12 End month
Weekday Logical (true or false)
Select if the tariff should be applied on weekdays
Weekend Logical (true or false)
Select if the tariff should be applied on weekends
Table 5-7 Demand Charge tariff parameters
Parameters Values Comment
Daily charge ($/day) Non-negative value
Energy cost ($/kWh) Non-negative value
Demand charge
($/kW/month) Non-negative value
StartHour 0 to 23 Start hour of the time period
StartMin 0 or 30 Start minute of the time period
EndHour 0 to 23 End hour of the time period
EndMin 0 or 30 End minute of the time period
StartMonth 1 to 12 Start month
EndMonth 1 to 12 End month
Weekday Logical (true or false) Select if the tariff should be applied on weekdays
Weekend Logical (true or false) Select if the tariff should be applied on weekends
NetworkPeak Logical (true or false) Select if the tariff should be applied on the
demand at network peak (coincident peak)
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Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 23
NumberofPeaks Natural number (1,2,…) Number of peak periods on which tariff should be
applied
DemandWindowTSNo Natural number (1,2,…)
The average of this number of half hourly periods
before the peak demand (including the peak
demand timestamp) will be considered. Default
value is 1.
MinDemandkW Non-negative value Minimum demand in kW. Any value below this
will convert to this limit.
MinDemandCharge Non-negative value Minimum demand charge in $. Any charge below
this will convert to this limit.
TimeGroup Natural number (1,2,…)
Condition groups. All rows with the same
TimeGroup will be considered as one demand
charge. For example you can specify the demand
charge based on 7-10am and 4-9pm in two rows
and then use the same TimeGroup for both of
them. This means one demand charge will be
applied to the peak and both time periods will be
considered to find the peak demand.
DayAverage Logical (true or false)
Select if the tariff should be applied on the
average demand in the time period of the day
(instead of just the peak demand).
You can select a name and specify the provider, state, and year. You can also include some info about the
tariff for your own reference. Once you save the tariff and select this tariff from the dropdown list, you
can hover over the tariff name and the info will appear.
You should put the DUOS, TUOS, and NUOS “rates” separately and they can be different and even zero in
some components (e.g. demand charge in the TUOS component in some demand tariffs is zero). However,
the other parameters (such as StartHour, ..) cannot be different in different components. As opposed to
the “modify tariff” option, here if you change a tariff parameter (e.g. start hour, end hour, etc) in one
component (e.g. DUOS) it will change in other components as well. So if you really need a different
parameter in different tariff components you can create the tariff, select it in the “Select Tariff” panel,
and then edit the parameter in only one component.
If you need to add more rows to the parameters table, you can press ‘+’ to add a row. This will add the
row to all components tabs. You can also delete the last row by pressing ‘-‘. If the NUOS component of
your tariff is equivalent to DUOS+TUOS, you can click on the button below to fill the NUOS rates based on
the DUOS+TUOS. You can also modify the rates afterwards. Once you finish everything you can press
“Add” to save this tariff in the list of tariffs. The new tariff will be checked for consistency and the software
will prompt an error message if it finds any problem in the tariff.
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You may later delete this tariff by selecting it from the select tariff dropdown list and press
-
. You can also
reset all tariff lists to the original list provided by this tool by selecting from menu, Tariff > Reset Tariff.
Figure 7 Example of creating a demand charge tariff
Please note the tool may not be able to catch all possible errors in the tariff design, so please make sure
all components of the tariff are designed as intended before saving the tariff.
5.8 V I SU ALISING THE AN A L Y SIS
After selecting the data and adjusting the tariff (if applicable), the analysis can be performed, and the
results can be shown on the graphs by pressing the “Add” button. Depending on the load size, complexity
of the tariff, and your computer’s specification, adding the analysis to the plot window may take up to a
few minutes. When you add a new case, the tool will ask if you would like to pick a name for the new case.
It will appear in the graphs, exported data, and case information panels. If you select “No”, it will be saved
as “Case + the number of case”. Please note, when you delete one case, the name of the other cases will
be updated. So for instance, if you delete case 3, case 4 and 5 will be renamed to case 3 and 4 respectively
and so on.
More analyses can be added to the plot by selecting a different user group or tariff and pressing “Add”
again. Up to 10 analyses can be added to the diagrams. There are three types of diagrams used for analysis,
titled “Single Variable Graphs”, Dual Variable Graphs”, and “Single Case Graphs”.
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When adding the analyses (cases), you can see the list of all cases beside the plotting panel where you
can show/hide the graphs, display the information of the cases, export the case to excel file, and delete
the case. Figure 8 shows different components of the plotting panel.
5.8.1.1 EX PORT FIGURE
You can export the figure currently displayed on the plotting panel. The figure will pop out of the panel
with more options (zoom, pan, etc). Also, you can save the figure in multiple standard figure formats. For
this option, click on menu Export > Export Figure or simply press ctrl + E.
5.8.1.2 COPY FIGURE
You can also copy the figure in the clipboard and then paste it in any document (word, email, etc). The
figure might not be exactly the same as what is being shown on the panel for some figure options (aspect
ratio, etc). You can also take a screenshot of the figure, or export the figure and then insert it into your
document. You can also print the figure to pdf after exporting it for better quality. For this option refer to
menu: Export > Copy Figure (Ctrl + C).
5.8.1.3 COPY DATA
Figure 8 Different components of the Plotting panel
1
9
2 3 4 5 6 7
8
1- Select the graph type, 2- List of cases, 3- Hide/show one case, 4- Display the case information in info panel, 5-
Export the result to excel, 6- Delete the case, 7- Clear all cases, 8- Info panel, 9- Select the plot option
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Tariff Analysis Tool Manual 26
If you want to access the underlying data of the figures you can copy the data of the current figure to the
clipboard and paste it in any excel file, etc. You can find this option in menu: Export > Copy Data (Ctrl +
D).
5.8. 2 I N FO PANEL
In the info panel, you can see the load info (Case number, Number of users, load database, and network
peak time calculation method), Tariff info (Tariff name, type, State, selected component, and tariff
parameters), and Demographic info based on the available demographic information. If any of the
demographic options were selected to filter the load, it will be shown in bold font (Figure 9). You can click
on the “S” buttons beside the demographic information items to run a quick statistical analysis on the
results grouped by the options available for that demographic info. For example, Figure 10 shows the
statistical analysis results of one case for demographic information “Income”. You can copy the table in
the clipboard by clicking on “Copy Data”. You can then paste in an Excel file, or any document for any
further work on the statistical analysis results. The table contains the mean, standard deviation, min and
max of analysis results (annual kWh, annual peak, demand at network peak, average daily kWh, annual
bill, and Unitised annual bill) for all users within the same demographic option. By clicking on the “S”
button beside “Demographic Information” you can see a statistical analysis of all the homes in this case
(not grouped based on any demographic information). Of course, for demographic information items
which have already been selected in filtering the load (and shown in bold font in the list), there will be
only one group in the statistical analysis.
Figure 9 List of demographic information
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Figure 10 statistical Analysis of one case grouped by demographic information "Income"
In the following, different graph types are introduced.
5.8. 3 S I NGLE VARIABLE G R A PH S
In this diagram panel, the graphs based on one variable are shown. You can select one of the following
variables from the dropdown list:
• Average Annual Profile
• Daily kWh Histogram
• Monthly Average kWh
• Seasonal Daily Pattern
• Monthly Peak Time
• Average Load Duration Curve
• Bill Distribution
• Bill Box Plot
Figure 11 shows a sample figure of all options. Once you add more analyses to the diagram, they will show
up together in both single variable and dual variable diagram panels. If you click on any point in a graph
the values of x and y axis will be shown in a data tip. You can add multiple data tips to the graph by holding
shift and clicking on a new point in the graph. You can see two sample data tips showing in “Monthly Peak
Time” graph in Figure 11 representing the hour of peak in March in two cases. You can use left and right
arrow keys to move between points (or groups in boxplot option). Please note if you use a similar load
profile for multiple cases (e.g. to test the impact of different tariffs on similar user group), the graphs
showing the characteristics of the load (and not the bill), will be similar and therefore you will see one
plot for them. As an example, in the graph mentioned above we have two sets of monthly peak points
instead of three. In boxplot you can see the Median, Maximum, Minimum, number of points and number
of finite outliers.
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Figure 11 Single Variable figure options
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5.8. 4 D U A L VARIABLE G RA PHS
In this diagram panel, multiple variables can be compared together by selecting them in the x or y axis.
The following results can be shown:
• Annual kWh
• Average Demand at “N” Network Peaks
• Average Demand at “N” Network Monthly Peaks
• Average demand at Top “N” Peaks
• Average demand at Top “N” Monthly Peaks
• Average Daily kWh
• Average Daily Peak
• Bill ($/year)
• Unitised Bill (kW)
Average demand at “N” network peaks (and “N” monthly peaks) is calculated based on the network peak
option selected (refer to section 5.5 for options for Network load). You can select the number of peaks
(N) from the dropdown list. You can also specify if you want to allow only one peak period per day. Please
note if you tick this option, multiple peak periods in a single day may be considered. You can also specify
which season is included.
Average Demand at Top “N” peaks (and “N” monthly peaks) are the average demand at the top peaks of
each home. Again you can allow more that one peak per day and also filter the seasons. Average daily
kWh and average daily peaks are also calculated for each home and can be selected from the dropdown
list.
Unitised Bill is defined as the customers’ annual bill divided by the annual bill of a reference customer
with constant demand throughout the year (1 kW or 0.5kWh in all half hour periods). The purpose of this
unitised bill is to make it independent of the value of the tariff components, so different tariffs with
different component values can be compared to each other based only on their structure and not their
rates. The unit for this bill is kW as the reference customer’s bill considered is $/kW. For more info about
the application of the Unitised Bill refer to our paper on cost-reflective tariff design here.
The correlation coefficient (CC) of the X and Y data of the plot is also calculated and shown in the legend
for each case.
Figure 12 shows some examples of different plotting options. Please note that while you can change the
number of peaks, multiple peaks per day, and seasonal filtering and update the figure, they are not
updated in the saved data for exporting to an excel file. However, you can access this updated data by
copying the data from figure (as described in 5.8.1.3).
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Please note, if the number selected for “N” is higher than the total available peaks (e.g. selecting 100
peaks for the monthly peak and selecting one peak/day), a warning will be shown, and the total available
peak times will be considered instead of “N”. Therefore if this happens, the x or y label (showing the
number of peaks) may not be valid for all cases. For example it may be Average of top 100 peaks while
the actual number of available peaks for different cases currently showing in the graph could be lower.
Figure 12 Dual Variable Diagram examples
5.8. 5 S I NG LE CASE GRAPH S
As some results can not be plotted for more than one case, a third type of diagram can be used for single
cases. You can select the case number and the variable to be shown on the plot. The following options are
possible:
• Bill Components
• Bill Components Pie Chart
• Daily Profile Interquartile Range
Please note, Bill Component here means the portion of the bill (Daily, Energy, Capacity Charge, etc) and
should not to be confused with DUOS, TUOS, etc.
In the first option (Bill Components), you can specify the parameter used to sort the bills. The default
parameter is the total bill.
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Figure 13 Some examples of single case charts
5.9 E X PO RTING THE RE S U L T S
While you can directly copy the data of the current figure to the clipboard and paste it where you want,
you can also export the result of individual or all cases to an excel file. You can click on the “Exp” button
beside the case name in the list of cases to export the result of that case. Alternatively, you can use the
menu: Export > Export Results. Figure 14 shows an example of an exported result. Please note there
currently seems to be an issue with saving the results while working in a network drive or shared folder
(e.g. OneDrive folder, etc) due to automatic syncing, etc. It is therefore recommended that you place and
run the TDA folder on a non-shared folder which is not being synced with the internet.
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Figure 14 A sample of exported result to excel
6 FE E D B ACK ON THE SOFTWA R E
We always aim to improve the TDA and make it useful for a wider range of stakeholders. Therefore, any
feedback on the current features of the software as well as any ideas for new features would be very
valuable to us. In order to give us your feedback and thoughts, including any errors, please use the
“feedback” button and provide your name, email and message. We will try our best to reply to you as
soon as possible. If you want to be informed about any future updates of the software please send us a
message using this option or directly to n.haghdadi@unsw.edu.au.