System for controlling power consumption at a user of electric power

Claim 1

An electronic system for controlling power consumption at a user of electric power, especially a dwelling or household supplied with power from a power plant, comprising a control unit ( 10 ) installed at the user and having a programmable memory ( 16 ) for storage of data for controlling the power consumption, parameter-sensing sensors ( 1 , 2 , 3 , . . . ) for the supply of input signals to the control unit, an electric meter ( 11 ) communicating with the control unit ( 10 ) for measuring the total instantaneous consumption of the user, and a number of addressable function nodes ( 4 , 5 , 6 ) connected between the control unit ( 10 ) and the various loads ( 12 ) and being in both-way communication with the control unit, for connection and disconnection of power-consuming units under the control thereof, the memory ( 16 ) of the control unit ( 10 ) containing a program for controlling the power consumption based on an estimate of the instantaneous consumption, and the control unit ( 10 ) being arranged to transmit addressed messages to the function nodes ( 4 , 5 , 6 ), so that only the nodes with the correct address receive the current messages and execute load-affecting actions based on the message content, to thereby reduce the instantaneous consumption, CHARACTERIZED IN that the control unit ( 10 ) is a main unit arranged to control the power consumption also based on an estimate of a historical consumption pattern at the user, so that the instantaneous consumption is reduced both in the periods in which the power load at the user is highest, and in the periods in which the historical consumption pattern of the user dictates that there is a high load, and that the main unit ( 10 ) is arranged to distribute the power consumption by means of a random function distributing the connection of the power-consuming units ( 12 ) over a given time interval, the random function being independent of energy plants and other users.