  For a large (and recently increasing) number of households, affordability is
a major hurdle in accessing sufficient electricity and avoiding service
disconnections. For such households, in-home energy rationing, i.e. the need to
actively prioritize how to use a limited amount of electricity, is an everyday
reality. In this paper, we consider a particularly vulnerable group of
customers, namely prepaid electricity customers, who are required to pay for
their electricity a-priori. With this group of customers in mind, we propose an
optimization-based energy management framework to effectively use a limited
budget and avoid the disruptions and fees associated with disconnections. The
framework considers forecasts of future use and knowledge of appliance power
ratings to help customers prioritize and limit use of low-priority loads, with
the goal of extending access to their critical loads. Importantly, the proposed
management system has minimal requirements in terms of in-home hardware and
remote communication, lending itself well to adoption across different regions
and utility programs. Our case study demonstrates that by considering both
current and future electricity consumption and more effectively managing access
to low-priority loads, the proposed framework increases the value provided to
customers and avoids disconnections.
