Determination of critical price per unit energy on the basis of power interruption cost of industrial consumer

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the new deregulated electric utility environment in assessing the consumer costs, associated with failures in electric power supply and the responsibilities associated with these failures. Continuous electric supply is a measure of production in industry and profit in the business. The uninterrupted electric supply is a desire of consumers. The electric power interruption may create a significant loss to the consumers of different sectors. In this study, the types of losses in the industrial sector are identified to evaluate the losses due to power interruption into monetary terms. The major loss components are: (i) loss due to damage of different raw materials under process; (ii) loss due to usage of alternative sources; (iii) loss due to reduced production, loss due to additional wages and (iv) loss due to equipments' trouble and damage. In order to evaluate the loss due to power interruption for consumers of industrial sector, an appropriate mathematical model has been developed. A questionnaire has been developed to collect information relating to power interruption. The evaluated loss has been compared with the electricity bills paid by the consumers. The critical price per unit energy in captive power plant generation on the basis of power interruption cost of industrial consumer has been determined. Also, the relative merits and demerits of the proposed model have been compared with existing power interruption model. The outcome of this research will be a guideline to the power system planners to justify the future plan for power generation. The research will also create awareness among the consumers by observing the losses into monetary terms, incurred to them due to power interruption.