A User-Centric View of a Demand Side Management Program: From Surveys to Simulation and Analysis

Residential demand side management (DSM) strategies increase the efficiency of the smart grid. However, the efficacy of these strategies relies on the participation of customers in DSM programs, an issue usually neglected in the analysis. To encompass all aspects, we tried to identify what are the drivers for the user engagement, focusing on the social and psychological behavior of the user in order to simulate and analyze a residential DSM program with a centralized approach. In particular, the DSM program minimizes costs taking into account different energy sources and performing load shifting considering and learning users’ acceptance of requests. The results show the advantage of a preferences-aware approach, highlighting the importance of user satisfaction on participation.