The concept of price elasticity of demand has been widely used for the assessment of the consumers’ behavior in the electricity market. As the residential consumers represent a significant percentage of the total load, price elasticity of their demand may be used to design desirable demand side response programs in order to manage peak load in a power system. The method presented in this study proposes an alternative approach towards price elasticity determination for zonal tariff users, based on comparisons of load profiles of consumers settled according to flat and time-of-use electricity tariffs. A detailed explanation of the proposed method is presented, followed by a case-study of price elasticity determination for residential electricity consumers in Poland. The forecasted values of price elasticity of demand for the Polish households using time-of-use (TOU) tariff vary between −1.7 and −2.3, depending on the consumers’ annual electricity consumption. Moreover, an efficiency study of residential zonal tariff is performed to assess the operation of currently applicable electricity tariffs. Presented analysis is based on load profiles published by Distribution System Operators and statistical data, but the method can be applied to the real-life measurements from the smart metering systems as well when such systems are accessible for residential consumers.

Demand side response is becoming an increasingly significant issue for reliable power systems’ operation. Therefore, it is desirable to ensure high effectiveness of such programs, including electricity tariffs. The purpose of the study is developing a method for analysing electricity tariff’s effectiveness in terms of demand side response purposes based on statistical data concerning tariffs’ use by the consumers and price elasticity of their electricity demand. A case-study analysis is presented for residential electricity consumers, shifting the settlement and consequently the profile of electricity use from a flat to a time-of-use tariff, based on the comparison of the considered tariff groups. Additionally, a correlation analysis is suggested to verify tariffs’ influence of the power system’s peak load based on residential electricity tariffs in Poland. The presented analysis proves that large residential consumers aggregated by tariff incentives may have a significant impact on the power system’s load and this impact changes substantially for particular hours of a day or season. Such efficiency assessment may be used by both energy suppliers to optimize their market purchases and by distribution system operators in order to ensure adequate generation during peak load periods.

The objective of the presented paper is to verify economically justified levels of reactive energy compensation in the distribution network in the new market conditions, including the extensive use of smart metering systems, new types of load, or distributed generation. The proposed methodology is based on the minimization of annual costs of losses caused by the flow of reactive energy to the supplied loads through the equivalent resistance of the distribution system determined on the basis of statistical energy losses in this network. The costs of losses are compared to the costs of using compensating devices expressed by the levelized costs of reactive energy generation. The results are the relations describing the optimal annual average value of the tgφ factor to be maintained by customers to optimize the cost of loss of the distribution network caused by reactive energy flows. The dependence of the optimal tgφ value on the analyzed load and network parameters is also discussed. The resulting optimal tgφ levels should be considered in the tariffication process of services offered by distribution system operators to improve capacity and limit the costs of power network operation due to reactive energy transmission.

The growing share of medium voltage cable lines in distribution networks challenges distribution network operators in terms of proper mode of operation of these lines. It is related to the reduction of energy losses in cable conductors and metallic cable screens. The article focuses on energy losses in metallic cable screens of cable lines and substation busbar bridges composed of single-core cables with metallic screens and possible ways of their reduction. Simulation and measurement analysis of the level of energy losses in the metallic screens of cables is presented together with the economic analysis of various variants of losses reduction through the change of the way these screens are operated in relation to the traditional bilateral earthing at both ends of cable. Technical problems and threats connected with the use of considered modifications of metallic screens operation during earth fault disturbances in distribution networks are also presented

The article presents the results of research in the field of limiting the effects of overvoltages and improving the conditions for the self-extinguishing of transient faults in medium voltage networks with earth fault current compensation. The aim of the research was to estimate the level of overvoltages generated by an earth fault during re-ignition of the electric arc and to assess the possibility of reducing them by increasing the attenuation of the earth fault circuit. The results of the conducted tests show that to increase the attenuation, which ensures a significant effect of limiting such overvoltages, it is enough to change the way of operation of the devices forcing an additional active component of the earth fault current (AWSCz/ACFA). In Poland, such devices are commonly used to improve the effectiveness of earth fault protection. It was also found that the proposed solution enables accurate tuning of the Petersen coil in networks with natural asymmetry of earth capacitances. Therefore, changes in the operation of AWSCz/ACFA devices may have a beneficial effect on the limiting the effects of repeated ignitions during earth faults and, at the same time, enable the accurate tuning of the Petersen coil and increase its ability to extinguish arc-fed faults. Research and theoretical analysis of the issue were carried out on the basis of data characterizing the parameters of the earth fault circuits of the real 15 kV network.

This article presents the issue of electricity consumption for space heating purposes. High share of fossil fuels used for space heating leads to high pollution emission. A solution for this problem may be encouraging customers to use electricity as an energy carrier for space heating, by proposing appropriate tariffs. Diverse electricity tariffs for households are described, differing in energy prices and distribution rates in certain periods of a day. Demand price elasticity is calculated by comparing energy increases in zones using standard load profiles of customers settled according to the flat tariff and the time of use tariff. The values of demand price elasticity are then used to create customers' load profiles based on price changes within newly proposed tariffs. A forecast of the consumption rise resulting from the new implemented anti-smog tariff motivating consumers to use electricity during the low load period in the Polish power system is presented.