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Scheduling Shiftable Loads to Reduce Electricity Costs and Prevent Secondary Demand Peaks in a Residential Microgrid
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Maryam Shahmanesh1   , Seyed Razieh MalekHosseini *2 , Taher Niknam3 , Karamollah Bagherifard4 , Seyed Hadi Yaghoubian1 |
1- Department of Computer Engineering, Yasuj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yasuj, Iran
2- Department of Computer Engineering, Yasuj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yasuj, Iran , malekhoseini.r@iau.ac.ir
3- Department of Electronics Engineering, Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz, Iran
4- Department of Computer Engineering, Yasuj Central Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yasuj, Iran |
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Abstract: (4 Views) |
Scheduling flexible household loads requires balancing electricity costs, user comfort, and capacity constraints. Shifting appliance operation to cheaper periods without considering deadlines and uninterrupted consumption cycles can increase discomfort or produce infeasible schedules. This study proposes a rule-based scheduling method that incorporates each activity’s operating window, duration, power profile, completion deadline, and preferred operating interval. First, the remaining slack of each activity is calculated using its deadline, current time, and execution duration, and activities with less slack receive higher priority. Candidate start times are then examined within the permitted operating window. For each candidate, the activity’s power profile is added to the base load and previously scheduled activities across every interval of its uninterrupted cycle. A candidate is retained only when the capacity limit is satisfied throughout execution. Infeasible candidates are discarded, and a start time is selected from the feasible alternatives by considering electricity expenditure and deviation from the preferred interval. After each assignment, the remaining capacity is updated. Activities without a feasible start time are reported explicitly, preventing omitted demand from being interpreted as cost savings. The method is compared with least slack time scheduling, simulated annealing, and mixed-integer linear programming under common inputs and constraints. In the numerical comparison presented, the proposed method incurs a cost of USD 620 at a discomfort index of 11, corresponding to a 62.20% reduction from the USD 1,640 baseline. Its cost is respectively 31.42%, 19.27%, and 10.92% lower than the reported costs of the three comparison methods. Marginal savings analysis indicates that additional flexibility provides limited economic benefits beyond discomfort levels of approximately 10–11. Combining deadline priority, complete-cycle capacity verification, and cost-aware start-time selection therefore provides a framework for balancing electricity expenditure and scheduling discomfort while preserving uninterrupted operation of appliances. |
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| Keywords: Flexible load scheduling, Home energy management, Deadline-based prioritization, Uninterrupted operating cycles, Capacity constraints, User discomfort, Marginal savings |
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Full-Text [PDF 1212 kb]
(2 Downloads)
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Type of Study: Applicable |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2026/04/4 | Accepted: 2026/05/24 | Published: 2026/05/31
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