IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v3y2018i12d10.1038_s41560-018-0285-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inaccurate consumer perceptions of monetary savings in a demand-side response programme predict programme acceptance

Author

Listed:
  • Lee V. White

    (University of Southern California
    The Ohio State University)

  • Nicole D. Sintov

    (The Ohio State University)

Abstract

Demand-side response (DSR) measures are critical to integrating variable renewable generation into electric grids. Time-of-use rates (TOU) are a common DSR mechanism that seeks to shift electricity use to low-demand times using financial instruments. However, consumers generally have a poor understanding of their electricity use and bills, raising questions about the extent to which TOU participation is driven by perceptions of savings versus actual savings. We find that among 8,702 residents who opted into a pilot TOU programme, the TOU treatment decreases on-peak use compared to a control group, but this effect is small. Perceived savings is the strongest predictor of intent to remain on TOU, over and above actual savings, even though it is only weakly related to actual changes in bills and usage. Residents may thus join DSR programmes based on perceived savings without achieving actual monetary or energy use savings, which may undermine the goals of these programmes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee V. White & Nicole D. Sintov, 2018. "Inaccurate consumer perceptions of monetary savings in a demand-side response programme predict programme acceptance," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(12), pages 1101-1108, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:3:y:2018:i:12:d:10.1038_s41560-018-0285-y
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-018-0285-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0285-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-018-0285-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Stelmach, Greg & Zanocco, Chad & Flora, June & Rajagopal, Ram & Boudet, Hilary S., 2020. "Exploring household energy rules and activities during peak demand to better determine potential responsiveness to time-of-use pricing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    2. Xu, Jiuping & Liu, Tingting, 2020. "Technological paradigm-based approaches towards challenges and policy shifts for sustainable wind energy development," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    3. Fikru, Mahelet G., 2019. "Estimated electricity bill savings for residential solar photovoltaic system owners: Are they accurate enough?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Zhaohua Wang & Bin Lu & Bo Wang & Yueming (Lucy) Qiu & Han Shi & Bin Zhang & Jingyun Li & Hao Li & Wenhui Zhao, 2023. "Incentive based emergency demand response effectively reduces peak load during heatwave without harm to vulnerable groups," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Gong, Yuanchao & Cai, Bo-feng & Sun, Yan, 2020. "Perceived fiscal subsidy predicts rural residential acceptance of clean heating: Evidence from an indoor-survey in a pilot city in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    6. Wang, Bohong & Guo, Qinglai & Yu, Yang, 2022. "Mechanism design for data sharing: An electricity retail perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    7. Raman, Gururaghav & Zhao, Bo & Peng, Jimmy Chih-Hsien & Weidlich, Matthias, 2022. "Adaptive incentive-based demand response with distributed non-compliance assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    8. Muttaqee, Mahmood & Stelmach, Greg & Zanocco, Chad & Flora, June & Rajagopal, Ram & Boudet, Hilary S., 2024. "Time of use pricing and likelihood of shifting energy activities, strategies, and timing," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    9. Li, Longxi, 2021. "Coordination between smart distribution networks and multi-microgrids considering demand side management: A trilevel framework," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    10. Kretschmer, Sandra, 2024. "Carbon literacy – Can simple interventions help? Effect of information provision on emissions knowledge of private households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nat:natene:v:3:y:2018:i:12:d:10.1038_s41560-018-0285-y. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.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.