Optimal pricing for electricity retailers

In the present work we tackle the problem of finding the optimal price tariff to be set by a risk-averse electric retailer participating in the pool and whose customers are price-sensitive. We assume that the retailer has access to a sufficiently large smart-meter dataset from which it can statistically characterize the relationship between the tariff price and the demand load of its clients. Three different models are analyzed to predict the aggregated load as a function of the electricity prices and other parameters, as humidity or temperature. In particular, we train linear regression (predictive) models to forecast the resulting demand load as a function of the retail price. Then we will insert this model in a quadratic optimization problem which evaluates the optimal price to be offered. This optimization problem accounts for different sources of uncertainty including consumer's response and renewable source availability, and relies on a stochastic and risk-averse formulation. Moreover, we consider both standard forward based contracts and the recently introduced power purchase agreement contracts as risk-hedging tools for the retailer. The results are promising as profits are found for the retailer with highly competitive prices and some possible improvements are shown if a better dataset could be produced. A realistic case study and multiple sensitivity analyses have been performed to characterize the risk-aversion behavior of the retailer considering price-sensitive consumers. It has been assumed that the energy procurement of the retailer can be satisfied from the pool and different types of contracts. The obtained results reveal that the risk-aversion degree of the retailer strongly influences contracting decisions, whereas the price sensitiveness of consumers has a higher impact on the selling price offered.