Case Study: Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc. achieves transparent, rapid evaluation of permanent load‑shifting cost‑effectiveness with Lumina Decision Systems' Analytica

Savings from Shifting Electricity Load to Off-Peak

Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc. was engaged by the California Energy Commission and CPUC to build an open‑source model that evaluates the cost‑effectiveness of Permanent Load Shifting (PLS) technologies—batteries, thermal storage and process shifts—for large California utilities and their customers. Needing a transparent, easy‑to‑review platform that could handle 8,760 hourly impacts and complex tariff rules without the maintenance burden of Excel/VBA, the team selected Analytica from Lumina Decision Systems.

Using Lumina Decision Systems’ Analytica, Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc. delivered a publicly available, interactive PLS cost‑effectiveness tool (built in one month with one day of training and a few hours of Lumina support) that models lifetime customer bill savings and grid benefits, exposes assumptions via influence diagrams, and accommodates diverse tariff structures. The model shows lifecycle grid benefits of roughly $500–$2,500 per peak kW reduced over 15 years depending on shift profiles, produced bill‑savings results for 66 shift scenarios, and is being used by California utilities to inform the scale of PLS and demand‑response programs.

Energy, Environmental and Economics Consulting Inc.

Ben Haley

Lead Analytica Modeler