Energy management practices among commercial and industrial (C&I) energy users have grown from a historical emphasis on shopping to procure the most competitive energy rates to include a more comprehensive suite of tools including traditional energy efficiency, on-site generation, and load management. As C&I customers become more engaged and sophisticated in their approach to energy management, there is concurrent interest amongst policymakers and advocacy groups to better link the time-value of electricity with end users.

In Ohio, energy load reduction practices have progressed from demand response to generation system capacity peak load contribution management, and now to transmission peak load contribution management. However, cutting-edge customers are still testing and figuring out effective management processes to handle critical peak pricing.

This paper presents a case study of transmission peak pilot pricing in Ohio looking at both the utilities pilot pricing structure as well as how C&I customers participate and engage in the programs. The common element has been shifting transmission costs from being billed on monthly facility peak demand, to coincident transmission system peaks. Heretofore, transmission system peak forecasting and alerts have not widely existed in Ohio, though they do for RTO/PJM-wide generation peaks. This paper presents discussion on the state of transmission costing, and the various transmission pilot program structures and tariff designs of Ohio’s four investor-owned utilities. Additionally, this paper will characterize transmission pilot program participants, their transmission peak electrical load contributions, and lessons learned to-date.