Energy and Buildings 116 (2016) 666–676 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy and Buildings j ourna l ho me pa g e: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild Unraveling electricity consumption proﬁles in households through clusters: Combining smart meters and door-to-door surveys João Pedro Gouveia ∗ , Júlia Seixas CENSE – Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Department of Science and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 15 September 2015 Received in revised form 14 December 2015 Accepted 30 January 2016 Available online 1 February 2016 Keywords: Daily electricity consumption Hierarchical clustering Consumers’ segmentation Smart meters Household surveys Electricity demand management a b s t r a c t Improvements of energy efﬁciency and reduction of Electricity Consumption (EC) could be pushed by increased knowledge on consumption proﬁles. This paper contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the EC proﬁles in a Southwest European city through the combination of high-resolution data from smart meters (daily electricity consumption) with door-to-door 110-question surveys for a sample of 265 households in the city of Évora, in Portugal. This analysis allowed to deﬁne ten power consumption clusters using Ward’s method hierarchical clustering, corresponding to four distinct types of annual consumption proﬁles: U shape (sharp and soft), W shape and Flat. U shape pattern is the most common one, covering 77% of the sampled households. The results show that three major groups of determinants characterize the electricity consumption segmentation: physical characteristics of a dwelling, especially year of construction and ﬂoor area; HVAC equipment and ﬁreplaces ownership and use; and occupants’ proﬁles (mainly number and monthly income). The combination of the daily EC data with qualitative door-to-door survey-based data proved to be a powerful data nutshell to distinguish groups of power consumers, allowing to derive insights to support DSOs, ESCOs, and retailers to design measures and instruments targeted to effective energy reduction (e.g. peak shaving, energy efﬁciency). © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions will hold steady or might even increase in developed countries if effective reduction of energy consumption will not be taken [1], contrary to policy goals aiming a transition toward low carbon economies. The need for energy consumption reduction is also linked to energy supply secu- rity and affordability, and climate change strategies. Therefore, increased search for energy efﬁciency, GHG emissions reduction and increased share of renewable energy sources, as established in Abbreviations: DHW, domestic hot water; DSO’s, Distribution System Opera- tors; DWM, dishwasher machines; ESCO’s, energy services companies; EU, European Union; FSK, frequency-shift keying; GHG, greenhouse gas; HVAC, heating venti- lating and air conditioning; OECD, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; PLC, power lie communication. ∗ Corresponding author at: CENSE – Center for Environmental and Sustaina- bility Research, Department of Science and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829- 516 Caparica, Portugal. E-mail address: jplg@fct.unl.pt (J.P. Gouveia). the European Union (EU) goals by 2030 [2] requires more successful and directed actions. Energy consumption in residential buildings deserves special attention since they represent a signiﬁcant share of ﬁnal energy consumption in OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, 27% in EU28 in 2013 [3]. In Portugal, residential buildings consume approximately one third of total electricity, with a growth of 70% from 1995 to 2012 [4]. This con- sumption is a complex issue that can be explained by a combination of physical, technological, demographic, climatic and behavioral characteristics of a dwelling and its occupants. Understanding the determinants that govern energy consump- tion has thus been the subject of abundant international literature for more than 30 years (e.g. [5,6–8]). More recently, Jones et al. [9] presented a literature review of the existing research investigat- ing the socio economic, dwelling and appliance related factors that affect electricity consumption in the residential sector. In this area of study, smart meters have been gaining higher interest in demand side management initiatives and for utili- ties, and are seen as an important instrument for giving energy consumption feedback to households and for consumers’ pro- ﬁles analysis [10]. With growing deployment of smart meters and http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.01.043 0378-7788/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.