Demand based Variable Electricity Tariff Meter

Basic economics dictates that the consumption pattern based on supply demand curve is most efficient. In current electricity billing system prevalent in India people who are consuming electricity for essential purpose and those who are consuming for luxurious purpose are paying equally until they cross a monthly threshold. Through this paper, we introduce Demand Based Variable Electricity Tariff Meter with a circuitry designed to tackle this problem. This meter measures the amount of units of power consumed on hourly basis. The tariff rate varies for different time slots in the day. A threshold limit of usage for every time slot is calculated based on minimum electricity required to run essential appliances. The tariff rate increases when this limit is reached thus a consumer who uses luxurious appliances will exceed this limit and thus will pay higher tariff for usage beyond the limit. In this paper billing amount is calculated with this tariff system and is compared with that of electricity regulators in Maharashtra such as Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and Brihanmumbai Electric Supply (BES). A reduction in charges for consumers using electricity for essential purposes and also those using it in off peak time slots is observed.