IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i8p1895-d344925.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumers’ Willingness to Accept Time-of-Use Tariffs for Shifting Electricity Demand

Author

Listed:
  • Swantje Sundt

    (Department of Economics, Kiel University, Olshausenstraße 40, D-24098 Kiel, Germany)

  • Katrin Rehdanz

    (Department of Economics, Kiel University, Olshausenstraße 40, D-24098 Kiel, Germany)

  • Jürgen Meyerhoff

    (Center of Landscape Economics, Institute of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Time-of-use (TOU) electricity tariffs represent an instrument for demand side management. By reducing energy demand during peak times, less investments in otherwise necessary, costly, and CO 2 intensive redispatch would be required. We use a choice experiment (CE) to analyze private consumers’ acceptance of TOU tariffs in Germany. In our CE, respondents choose between a fixed rate tariff and two TOU tariffs that differ by peak time scheme and by a control of appliances’ electricity consumption during that time. We use a mixed logit model to account for taste heterogeneity. Moreover, investigating decision strategies, we identify three different strategies that shed light on drivers of unobserved taste heterogeneity: (1) Always choosing the status quo, (2) always choosing the maximum discount, and (3) choosing a TOU tariff but not always going for the maximum discount. Overall, about 70% of our 1398 respondents would choose a TOU tariff and shift their electricity demand, leading to a decline in energy demand during peak times. Rough estimates indicate that this would lead to significant savings in electricity generation, avoiding up to a mid to large-sized fossil-fuel power plant.

Suggested Citation

  • Swantje Sundt & Katrin Rehdanz & Jürgen Meyerhoff, 2020. "Consumers’ Willingness to Accept Time-of-Use Tariffs for Shifting Electricity Demand," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-17, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:8:p:1895-:d:344925
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/8/1895/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/8/1895/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blasch, Julia & Filippini, Massimo & Kumar, Nilkanth, 2019. "Boundedly rational consumers, energy and investment literacy, and the display of information on household appliances," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 39-58.
    2. Ruokamo, Enni & Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria & Meriläinen, Teemu & Svento, Rauli, 2019. "Towards flexible energy demand – Preferences for dynamic contracts, services and emissions reductions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Andrew A. Goett & Kathleen Hudson & Kenneth E. Train, 2000. "Customers' Choice Among Retail Energy Suppliers: The Willingness-to-Pay for Service Attributes," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4), pages 1-28.
    4. Richter, Laura-Lucia & Pollitt, Michael G., 2018. "Which smart electricity service contracts will consumers accept? The demand for compensation in a platform market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 436-450.
    5. Daniel, Aemiro Melkamu & Persson, Lars & Sandorf, Erlend Dancke, 2018. "Accounting for elimination-by-aspects strategies and demand management in electricity contract choice," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 80-90.
    6. Broberg, Thomas & Persson, Lars, 2016. "Is our everyday comfort for sale? Preferences for demand management on the electricity market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 24-32.
    7. Cristiano Franceschinis & Riccardo Scarpa & Mara Thiene & John Rose & Michele Moretto & Raffaele Cavalli, 2016. "Exploring the Spatial Heterogeneity of Individual Preferences for Ambient Heating Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-19, May.
    8. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521747387, October.
    9. Nicolson, Moira L. & Fell, Michael J. & Huebner, Gesche M., 2018. "Consumer demand for time of use electricity tariffs: A systematized review of the empirical evidence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 276-289.
    10. Frondel, Manuel & Ritter, Nolan & Sommer, Stephan, 2015. "Stromverbrauch privater Haushalte in Deutschland: Eine ökonometrische Analyse," RWI Materialien 92, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    11. Buryk, Stephen & Mead, Doug & Mourato, Susana & Torriti, Jacopo, 2015. "Investigating preferences for dynamic electricity tariffs: The effect of environmental and system benefit disclosure," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 190-195.
    12. David Revelt & Kenneth Train, 1998. "Mixed Logit With Repeated Choices: Households' Choices Of Appliance Efficiency Level," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 647-657, November.
    13. Arne Risa Hole, 2007. "Fitting mixed logit models by using maximum simulated likelihood," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 388-401, September.
    14. Schlereth, Christian & Skiera, Bernd & Schulz, Fabian, 2018. "Why do consumers prefer static instead of dynamic pricing plans? An empirical study for a better understanding of the low preferences for time-variant pricing plans," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 269(3), pages 1165-1179.
    15. Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Rose, John M., 2013. "Confidence intervals of willingness-to-pay for random coefficient logit models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 199-214.
    16. Dütschke, Elisabeth & Paetz, Alexandra-Gwyn, 2013. "Dynamic electricity pricing—Which programs do consumers prefer?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 226-234.
    17. Hall, Nina L. & Jeanneret, Talia D. & Rai, Alan, 2016. "Cost-reflective electricity pricing: Consumer preferences and perceptions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 62-72.
    18. Haucap, Justus & Pagel, Beatrice, 2014. "Ausbau der Stromnetze im Rahmen der Energiewende: Effizienter Netzausbau und effiziente Struktur der Netznutzungsentgelte," DICE Ordnungspolitische Perspektiven 55, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    19. Kaufmann, Simon & Künzel, Karoline & Loock, Moritz, 2013. "Customer value of smart metering: Explorative evidence from a choice-based conjoint study in Switzerland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 229-239.
    20. Ahmad Faruqui & Sanem Sergici, 2010. "Household response to dynamic pricing of electricity: a survey of 15 experiments," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 193-225, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pereira, Diogo Santos & Marques, António Cardoso, 2020. "How should price-responsive electricity tariffs evolve? An analysis of the German net demand case," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Harold, Jason & Bertsch, Valentin & Fell, Harrison, 2021. "Preferences for curtailable electricity contracts: Can curtailment benefit consumers and the electricity system?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    3. Broberg, Thomas & Daniel, Aemiro Melkamu & Persson, Lars, 2021. "Household preferences for load restrictions: Is there an effect of pro-environmental framing?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Yuriy Leonidovich Zhukovskiy & Margarita Sergeevna Kovalchuk & Daria Evgenievna Batueva & Nikita Dmitrievich Senchilo, 2021. "Development of an Algorithm for Regulating the Load Schedule of Educational Institutions Based on the Forecast of Electric Consumption within the Framework of Application of the Demand Response," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Lucas Roth & Jens Lowitzsch & Özgür Yildiz, 2021. "An Empirical Study of How Household Energy Consumption Is Affected by Co-Owning Different Technological Means to Produce Renewable Energy and the Production Purpose," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-38, July.
    6. von Loessl, Victor, 2023. "Smart meter-related data privacy concerns and dynamic electricity tariffs: Evidence from a stated choice experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    7. Lehmann, Nico & Sloot, Daniel & Ardone, Armin & Fichtner, Wolf, 2022. "Consumer preferences for the design of a demand response quota scheme – Results of a choice experiment in Germany," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    8. Leandra Scharnhorst & Thorben Sandmeier & Armin Ardone & Wolf Fichtner, 2021. "The Impact of Economic and Non-Economic Incentives to Induce Residential Demand Response—Findings from a Living Lab Experiment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-24, April.
    9. Minseok Jang & Hyun-Cheol Jeong & Taegon Kim & Sung-Kwan Joo, 2021. "Load Profile-Based Residential Customer Segmentation for Analyzing Customer Preferred Time-of-Use (TOU) Tariffs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-12, September.
    10. Swantje Sundt, 2021. "Influence of Attitudes on Willingness to Choose Time-of-Use Electricity Tariffs in Germany. Evidence from Factor Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-20, August.
    11. Cheng-Ta Tsai & Yu-Shan Cheng & Kuen-Huei Lin & Chun-Lung Chen, 2021. "Effects of a Battery Energy Storage System on the Operating Schedule of a Renewable Energy-Based Time-of-Use Rate Industrial User under the Demand Bidding Mechanism of Taipower," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-15, March.
    12. Satoshi Nakano & Ayu Washizu, 2020. "On the Acceptability of Electricity Demand Side Management by Time of Day," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-21, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bernadeta Gołębiowska, 2020. "Preferences for demand side management—a review of choice experiment studies," Working Papers 2020-05, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    2. Patrick Ludwig & Christian Winzer, 2022. "Tariff Menus to Avoid Rebound Peaks: Results from a Discrete Choice Experiment with Swiss Customers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-21, August.
    3. Gołębiowska, Bernadeta & Bartczak, Anna & Budziński, Wiktor, 2021. "Impact of social comparison on preferences for Demand Side Management in Poland," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    4. Broberg, Thomas & Daniel, Aemiro Melkamu & Persson, Lars, 2021. "Household preferences for load restrictions: Is there an effect of pro-environmental framing?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. Kayo MURAKAMI & Takanori IDA, 2019. "Deregulation and status quo bias: Evidence from stated and revealed switching behaviors in the electricity market in Japan," Discussion papers e-19-001, Graduate School of Economics , Kyoto University.
    6. Ruokamo, Enni & Kopsakangas-Savolainen, Maria & Meriläinen, Teemu & Svento, Rauli, 2019. "Towards flexible energy demand – Preferences for dynamic contracts, services and emissions reductions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    7. Daniel, Aemiro Melkamu, 2020. "Towards Sustainable Energy Consumption Electricity Demand Flexibility and Household Fuel Choice," Umeå Economic Studies 971, Umeå University, Department of Economics.
    8. Curtis, John & Brazil, William & Harold, Jason, 2019. "Understanding preference heterogeneity in electricity services: the case of domestic appliance curtailment contracts," Papers WP638, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    9. Mark Tocock & Dugald Tinch & Darla Hatton MacDonald & John M. Rose, 2023. "Managing the energy trilemma of reliability, affordability and renewables: Assessing consumer demands with discrete choice experiments," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 67(2), pages 155-175, April.
    10. Hannu Huuki & Rauli Svento, 2020. "Unobserved preferences and dynamic platform pricing under positive network externality," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 37-58, December.
    11. Nakai, Miwa & von Loessl, Victor & Wetzel, Heike, 2024. "Preferences for dynamic electricity tariffs: A comparison of households in Germany and Japan," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    12. von Loessl, Victor, 2023. "Smart meter-related data privacy concerns and dynamic electricity tariffs: Evidence from a stated choice experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    13. Lim, Keumju & Lee, Jongsu & Lee, Hyunjoo, 2021. "Implementing automated residential demand response in South Korea: Consumer preferences and market potential," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    14. Kim, Kyungah & Choi, Jihye & Lee, Jihee & Lee, Jongsu & Kim, Junghun, 2023. "Public preferences and increasing acceptance of time-varying electricity pricing for demand side management in South Korea," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    15. Stefania Troiano & Daniel Vecchiato & Francesco Marangon & Tiziano Tempesta & Federico Nassivera, 2019. "Households’ Preferences for a New ‘Climate-Friendly’ Heating System: Does Contribution to Reducing Greenhouse Gases Matter?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-19, July.
    16. Srivastava, Aman & Van Passel, Steven & Kessels, Roselinde & Valkering, Pieter & Laes, Erik, 2020. "Reducing winter peaks in electricity consumption: A choice experiment to structure demand response programs," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    17. Bertsch, Valentin & Harold, Jason & Fell, Harrison, 2019. "Consumer preferences for end-use specific curtailable electricity contracts on household appliances during peak load hours," Papers WP632, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    18. Leandra Scharnhorst & Thorben Sandmeier & Armin Ardone & Wolf Fichtner, 2021. "The Impact of Economic and Non-Economic Incentives to Induce Residential Demand Response—Findings from a Living Lab Experiment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-24, April.
    19. Hye-Jeong Lee & Beom Jin Chung & Sung-Yoon Huh, 2023. "Consumer Preferences for Smart Energy Services Based on AMI Data in the Power Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-20, May.
    20. Srivastava, A. & Van Passel, S. & Valkering, P. & Laes, E.J.W., 2021. "Power outages and bill savings: A choice experiment on residential demand response acceptability in Delhi," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:8:p:1895-:d:344925. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.