Advisor and notification to reduce bill shock

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11188929-B2
Application number	US-201514981583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2015
Priority date	Aug 7, 2014
Publication date	Nov 30, 2021
Grant date	Nov 30, 2021

Abstract

According to various aspects of the subject technology, systems and methods for identifying whether for a period of time, the weather is a cause for the consumption cost for a user exceeding a threshold cost. The determination can be made by comparing the received weather sensor data for the period of time to baseline weather data. If the weather is identified to be a cause for consumption cost for the user exceeding a threshold cost for the period of time, then a notification can be generated. The notification can indicate that the consumption cost for the user exceeds the threshold cost for the period of time and that weather is a reason for the consumption cost for the user exceeding the threshold costs. As such, the notification can warn the user that a high bill should be expected, thereby reducing bill shock and ensuing call center calls.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An energy usage alert system comprising:
at least one processor; and
a memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the energy usage alert system to:
receive, from a usage database, consumption data from a utility meter associated with a utility account during an elapsed portion of a billing period;
determine, based on the consumption data, that a projected consumption cost for the utility account during the billing period exceeds a threshold cost indicating that consumption cost for the utility account is high;
receive weather sensor data corresponding to the elapsed portion of the billing period;
compare the weather sensor data for the elapsed portion of the billing period to baseline weather data to determine a number of degrees difference between the weather sensor data for the elapsed portion of the billing period and the baseline weather data;
identify weather during the elapsed portion of the billing period as a cause for the projected consumption cost for the utility account exceeding the threshold cost in response to the number of degrees difference exceeding a threshold number of degrees;
generate, in response to the identification, an electronic message including (i) a notification indicating that the projected consumption cost for the utility account exceeds the threshold cost and that weather during the elapsed portion of the billing period is one reason for the projected consumption cost for the utility account exceeding the threshold cost, (ii) an indication that a projected bill can be altered by making adjustments to usage prior to the end of the billing period, and (iii) an instruction to automatically adjust settings to reduce resource consumption; and
transmit the electronic message to a client device associated with the utility account to cause the instruction to be performed and resource consumption to be reduced.

2. The energy usage alert system of claim 1 , wherein the projected consumption cost exceeds the threshold cost by at least thirty percent.

3. The energy usage alert system of claim 1 , wherein consumption cost is a total consumption cost for the billing period; the memory device further storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the energy usage alert system to:
calculate the projected consumption cost for a remaining portion of the billing period based on the consumption data for the elapsed portion of the billing period; and
calculate the total consumption cost for the billing period based on the consumption data for the elapsed portion of the billing data and the projected consumption cost.

4. The energy usage alert system of claim 3 , wherein the calculating of the projected consumption cost for the remaining portion of the billing period comprises:
selecting a subset of the consumption data for the elapsed portion of the billing period; and
generating the projected consumption cost for the remaining portion of the billing period based on the subset of the consumption data for the elapsed portion of the billing period.

5. The energy usage alert system of claim 3 , the memory device further storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the energy usage alert system to:
compare the total consumption cost for the billing period to a historical consumption cost for at least one prior billing period; and
wherein the notification for the utility account further includes the comparison of the total consumption cost to the historical consumption cost.

6. The energy usage alert system of claim 1 , wherein the consumption cost is one of a monetary cost for usage of a resource or an amount of resource attributable to the utility account.

7. The energy usage alert system of claim 1 , the memory device further storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the energy usage alert system to:
receive historical consumption costs for at least one prior billing period; and
calculate the threshold cost based on the historical consumption costs.

8. The energy usage alert system of claim 1 , the memory device further storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the energy usage alert system to:
receive temperature data for the at least one prior billing period; and
calculate the baseline weather data based on the received temperature data.

9. The energy usage alert system of claim 1 , wherein the weather sensor data includes at least one of humidity data, precipitation data, and barometric data from a weather sensor.

10. The energy usage alert system of claim 1 wherein:
the threshold cost is calculated from historical consumption costs for at least one prior billing period;
projected consumption cost exceeds the threshold cost by a minimum percentage;
the projected consumption cost for a remaining portion of the billing period is calculated based on the consumption data for the elapsed portion of the billing period, wherein the calculation of the projected consumption cost for the remaining portion of the billing period comprises selecting a subset of the consumption data for the elapsed portion of the billing period and generating the projected consumption cost for the remaining portion of the billing period based on the subset of the consumption data for the elapsed portion of the billing period;
wherein the consumption cost is an amount of resource attributable to the utility account;
wherein the weather sensor data includes at least one of humidity data, precipitation data, and barometric data;
the electronic message further comprises a recommendation of how to modify usage so that actual usage remains within budgeted use for the billing period, and
the instruction to automatically adjust settings instructs the client device to reduce resource consumption in accordance with the recommendation.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining, by an energy usage alert system, that a projected consumption cost assigned to a user exceeds a threshold cost for a billing period;
receiving, by the energy usage alert system, weather sensor data corresponding to an elapsed portion of the billing period;
comparing, by the energy usage alert system, the weather sensor data for the elapsed portion of the billing period to baseline weather data to determine a number of units difference between the weather sensor data for the elapsed portion of the billing period and the baseline weather data;
identifying, by the energy usage alert system, weather during the elapsed portion of the billing period as a cause for the projected consumption cost assigned to the user exceeding the threshold cost in response to the number of units difference exceeding a threshold number of units; and
generating, by the energy usage alert system in response to the identification, an electronic message including (i) a notification indicating that the projected consumption cost for the user exceeds the threshold cost and that weather during the elapsed portion of the billing period is one reason for the projected consumption cost exceeding the threshold cost, (ii) an indication that a projected bill can be altered by making adjustments to usage prior to the end of the billing period or a recommendation of how to modify usage so that actual usage remains within budgeted use for the billing period, and (iii) an instruction to automatically adjust settings to reduce resource consumption; and
transmit the electronic message to a client device associated with the utility account to cause the instruction to be performed and resource consumption to be reduced.

Assignees

• Opower Inc

Inventors

• Sloss Brian
• Nouri Koorosh

Classifications

• G06Q50/06

  Energy or water supply · CPC title

• G06Q30/04

  Billing or invoicing · CPC title

• G06Q20/14

  specially adapted for billing systems · CPC title

• G06Q30/0202 Primary

  Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities · CPC title