  Trade-offs between privacy and cost are studied for a smart grid consumer,
whose electricity consumption is monitored in almost real time by the utility
provider (UP) through smart meter (SM) readings. It is assumed that an
electrical battery is available to the consumer, which can be utilized both to
achieve privacy and to reduce the energy cost by demand shaping. Privacy is
measured via the mean squared distance between the SM readings and a target
load profile, while time-of-use (ToU) pricing is considered to compute the cost
incurred. The consumer can also sell electricity back to the UP to further
improve the privacy-cost trade-off. Two privacy-preserving energy management
policies (EMPs) are proposed, which differ in the way the target load profile
is characterized. A more practical EMP, which optimizes the energy management
less frequently, is also considered. Numerical results are presented to compare
the privacy-cost trade-off of these EMPs, considering various privacy
indicators.
