Residential Applications:

Residential (Utility Control) Application Examples

Utilities and Energy Providers can apply Z-LYNK systems to the residential market. For example incentives can be offered to consumers to remove major parts of their load from the network for short periods of time. One principal area is to be able to shut off heat pumps or air conditioning compressors for brief periods of time. Previously the cost of doing this has been high, perhaps exceeding $500 per household Z-LYNK systems offer a considerably less expensive alternative. The need to manage peak demand-particularly during the summer months is increasing. Also those utilities with a large number of "transient" customers may be interested in automated connect / disconnect. Slow or non-paying customers can be disconnected right away (as soon as prudent steps are followed) and returned to service immediately upon payment.

Residential (User Control) Value Added Services

There now exists the potential for the residential consumers to have more control over electric power usage - particularly in view of possible increase in rates and the desire to reduce energy costs. Such control may mean the ability to adjust the thermostat or turn appliances off and on in a more sophisticated manner than timers or setback thermostats. People are becoming more mobile and their daily schedules are even more dynamic. As a value added service to the customer it can bring a new source of revenue and customer loyalty.

In all cases applications can be built to use the Internet as a 'graphical interface' to provide commands to switch appliances. This could be used directly by the consumer or indirectly by the utility company or service provider. The diagram illustrates a potential domestic application and system. In this case loads are either hard wired or connected via a simple 'Plug-in' receiver. If required the whole supply could be disconnected. Control and communication with the control centre could be via the Internet. The transmitter is connected to the control centre by a WAN that can be dial up, direct connection, packet radio or GSM / SMS.