RATES Pilot Overview

This Retail Automated Transactive Energy System (RATES) Pilot brings together decades of home and business automation development and deployment experience by Universal Devices Inc. and decades of electric power market design and transaction platform development by TeMix Inc.

Southern California Edison and the California ISO are supporting  the RATE project with advice, technical information and data.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded a Grant in March 2016 for the RATES pilot to Universal Devices inc. as prime contractor and TeMix Inc. as subcontractor, with Dr. Edward Cazalet of TeMix as principal investigator.

As the figure on the left illustrates,  RATES helps cordinate operations and investment in wholesale transmission and generation system and markets operated by the California ISO, the distribution grid operated in this case by Southern California Edison, the load serving entity in this case a different branch of Southern California Edison and the end customers and prosumers who buy and sell energy for the end devices including solar, storage and EVs.

The ISY shown in upper right of the figure supports the control of devices based on dynamic prices of buy and sell offers (tenders) from the distribution operator and the load serving entity.

When RATES is fully deployed you will control your own electrical devices and the smart software and the ISY will help you do this easily and simply, in many cases with voice conversation.

Because the RATES system can help you avoid high price electricity and use more low price electricity, you will benefit financially.

Because we have designed the electricity prices in RATES to reflect both scarcity and abundance of solar and wind energy and the current prices of Carbon in California, in your use of electricity you will be helping to green your community and the globe.

Please consider helping us to perfect this amazing technology for the rest of your community and many others.