This paper analyzes a consumption scheduling mechanism for domestic appliances within a home area network. The aim of the proposed scheduling is to minimize the total energy price paid by the consumer and to reduce power peaks in order to achieve a balanced daily load schedule. An exact and computationally efficient mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation of the problem is presented. This model is verified by several problem instances. Realistic scenarios based on the real price tariffs commercially available in the Czech Republic are calculated. The results obtained by solving the optimization problem are compared with a simulation of the ripple control service currently used by many domestic consumers in the Czech Republic.

We present the conceptual design of a collective control scheme for appliances within a smart home. Based on the relevant energy acquisition procedures, three appliance groups are defined, modeled, and completed with an energy storage as well as a generator using renewable sources. At the following stage, a mixed quadratic optimization problem is presented, with the solution consisting in a time plan to regulate the operation of the individual devices. Importantly, the paper also proposes a heuristic algorithm securing consistent functionality of the computational process even despite the varying input and user conditions given in the receding horizon.