Hybrid Machine Learning Model for Electricity Consumption Prediction Using Random Forest and Artificial Neural Networks

Predicting electricity consumption is notably essential to provide a better management decision and company strategy. This study presents a hybrid machine learning model by integrating dimensionality reduction and feature selection algorithms with a backpropagation neural network (BPNN) to predict electricity consumption in Thailand. The predictive models are developed and tested using an actual dataset with related predictor variables from public sources. An open geospatial data gathered from a real service as well as geographical, climatic, industrial, household information are used to train, evaluate, and validate these models. Machine learning methods such as principal component analysis (PCA), stepwise regression (SWR), and random forest (RF) are used to determine the significant predictor variables. The predictive models are constructed using the BPNN with all available variables as baseline for comparison and selected variables from dimensionality reduction and feature selection methods. Along with creating a predictive model, the most related predictors of energy consumption are also selected. From the comparison, the hybrid model of RF with BPNN consistently outperforms the other models. Thus, the proposed hybrid machine learning model presented from this study can predict electricity consumption for planning and managing the energy demand.