SGIG consumer behavior study: Minnesota Power AMI behavioral research pilot (Phase 1)

Minnesota Power is a winter peaking investor-owned electric utility with ~145,000 customers in its ~26,000 square mile service territory that covers central and northeastern Minnesota. The utility's Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) project includes a two-phase consumer behavior study.

The first (Phase One) evaluates customer acceptance to various forms and timing of information feedback about electricity consumption, while the second (Phase Two) evaluates customer response to a TOU rate with a CPP overlay.

The utility targeted residential customers in the Duluth/Hermantown area for both phases of the study—an area with a slightly older and higher-income population than the rest of the state.