IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2020 - 72

history

Curt Puckett and Craig Williamson

utility load research
a look at our past

UTILITIES STUDY HOW THEIR
customers use electricity across time
through load research. The outcomes of
load research play an important role in
cost-of-service studies and rate design
as well as many other activities, such as
transformer sizing, demand-side management, load settlement, load forecasting, and distribution and resource planning. Despite its existence for nearly
a century, load research is not a wellknown subject in the power engineering
community. Here, we discuss the history of load research and its current practice and applications. In another article
in this issue of IEEE Power & Energy
Magazine, "Utility Load Research: The
Future of Load Research Is Now," we
provide a look into the future of load
research as utilities increase their interval load data-collection capabilities
through the use of automated metering
infrastructure (AMI).

Association of Edison
Illuminating Companies
Load Research Committee
Load research got its start in the United
States in the late 1930s as a way to better
understand electric customers and their
contribution to an ever-expanding base
and unprecedented growth. Interestingly, the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (AEIC) has had a Special Committee on Load Studies dating
back to 1938. Table 1 lists those who
were members of this committee from

Load research allows utilities to examine their customers' use of electricity,
either in total or by individual end uses, and requires numerous disciplines including engineering, statistics, computer programming, and marketing. In this
issue's "History" column, we examine utility load research, with a look at the
past from the first days of load research in the 1930s up to the rapidly advancing
future with automated metering infrastructure.
We welcome Curt Puckett and Craig Williamson, both with DNV GL, to
these "History" pages of IEEE Power & Electronics Magazine.
John Paserba
Associate Editor, "History"

table 1. The members of the AEIC Special Committee on Load Studies
(1938-1943).
* S.W. Andrews, American Gas and Electric Service Corporation
* W.E. Barbour Jr., Boston Edison Company
* C.W. Bary, chairman, Philadelphia Electric Company
* A.D. Caskey, Public Service of Northern Illinois
* H.A. Enos, American Gas and Electric Service Corporation
* E.J. Fowler, Commonwealth Edison Company
* J.R. Gardner, Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation
* R.E. Ginna, Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation
* H.L. Harrington, Niagara Hudson Power Corporation
* L.V. Nelson, Union Electric Company
* E.H. Schmidtman, Wisconsin Electric Power Company
* H.A. Snow, Detroit Edison Company
* E.T. Steel, Potomac Electric Power Company
* A.H. Sweetnam, Boston Edison Company
* F.M. Terry, Consolidated Edison of New York
* C.M. Turner, Ebasco Services
* W.R. Waggoner, Commonwealth and Southern Corporation

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2020.2971845
Date of current version: 17 April 2020

ieee power & energy magazine

* R.R. Hermann, correspondent member, Northern States Power Company
may/june 2020

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2020

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