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Misunderstanding Nonlinear Prices: Evidence from a Natural Experiment on Residential Electricity Demand

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  • Blake Shaffer

Abstract

This paper examines how consumers respond to nonlinear prices. Exploiting a natural experiment with electricity consumers in British Columbia, I find evidence that some households severely misunderstand nonlinear prices—incorrectly perceiving that the marginal price applies to all consumption, not simply the last unit. While small in number, the exaggerated responses by these households have a large effect in aggregate, masking an otherwise predominant response to average price. Largely unexplored in the literature, this type of misunderstanding has important economic, policy, and methodological implications beyond electricity markets. I estimate the welfare loss for these households to be the equivalent of 10 percent of annual electricity expenditure.

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  • Blake Shaffer, 2020. "Misunderstanding Nonlinear Prices: Evidence from a Natural Experiment on Residential Electricity Demand," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 433-461, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:12:y:2020:i:3:p:433-61
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20180061
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Borenstein, Severin & Bushnell, James, 2021. "Issues, Questions, and a Research Agenda for the Role of Pricing in Residential Electrification," RFF Working Paper Series 21-35, Resources for the Future.
    2. Robert W. Hahn & Robert D. Metcalfe, 2021. "Efficiency and Equity Impacts of Energy Subsidies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 111(5), pages 1658-1688, May.
    3. Arnold, Fabian & Jeddi, Samir & Sitzmann, Amelie, 2022. "How prices guide investment decisions under net purchasing — An empirical analysis on the impact of network tariffs on residential PV," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Schaufele, Brandon, 2021. "Lessons from a utility-sponsored revenue neutral electricity conservation program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    5. Joseph,George & Ayling,Sophie Charlotte Emi & Miquel-Florensa,Pepita & Bejarano,Hernán D. & Cardona,Alejandra Quevedo, 2021. "Behavioral Insights in Infrastructure Sectors : A Survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9704, The World Bank.
    6. Hindriks, Jean & Serse, Valerio, 2022. "The incidence of VAT reforms in electricity markets: Evidence from Belgium," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Smith, Steven M., 2022. "The effects of individualized water rates on use and equity," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    8. Ferrasse, Jean-Henry & Neerunjun, Nandeeta & Stahn, Hubert, 2022. "Intermittency and electricity retailing: An incomplete market approach," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 24-36.
    9. Jeffrey Wagner, 2021. "Optimal deterrence under misperception of the probability of apprehension and the magnitude of sanctions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 2080-2088.
    10. Han, Xintong & Liu, Zimin & Wang, Tong, 2023. "Nonlinear pricing in multidimensional context: An empirical analysis of energy consumption," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    11. Yabin Da & Bin Zeng & Jing-Li Fan & Jiawei Hu & Lanlan Li, 2023. "Heterogeneous responses to climate: evidence from residential electricity consumption," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 176(8), pages 1-19, August.
    12. Wichman, Casey, 2024. "Efficiency, Equity, and Cost-Recovery Trade-Offs in Municipal Water Pricing," RFF Working Paper Series 24-18, Resources for the Future.
    13. Giommoni, Tommaso, 2024. "A fistful of dollars: Rent seeking behaviour and local tax manipulation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 453-469.
    14. Phuong Ho, 2023. "Nonlinear pricing, biased consumers, and regulatory policy," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 149-164, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

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