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Electric Utility Demand Side Management in Canada

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  • Nic Rivers
  • Mark Jaccard

Abstract

Government, utility, and private subsidies for energy efficiency play a prominent role in current efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet the effectiveness of this policy approach is in dispute. One opportunity for empirical analysis is provided by the past energy efficiency subsidies, called demand-side management programs, offered by electric utilities in North America over several decades. Between 1990 and 2005, most electric utilities in Canada administered such programs, with total spending of $2.9 billion (CDN$2005). This paper uses the significant inter-annual variation in demand side management spending during this period to econometrically estimate the effectiveness of these subsidies. The resulting estimates indicate that these programs have not had a substantial impact on overall electricity consumption in Canada. doi: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol32-No4-5

Suggested Citation

  • Nic Rivers & Mark Jaccard, 2011. "Electric Utility Demand Side Management in Canada," The Energy Journal, , vol. 32(4), pages 93-116, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:32:y:2011:i:4:p:93-116
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol32-No4-6
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    1. Paul W. Parfomak & Lester B. Lave, 1996. "How Many Kilowatts are in a Negawatt? Verifying Ex Post Estimates of Utility Conservation Impacts at the Regional Level," The Energy Journal, , vol. 17(4), pages 59-87, October.
    2. David S. Loughran and Jonathan Kulick, 2004. "Demand-Side Management and Energy Efficiency in the United States," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 1), pages 19-44.
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    Cited by:

    1. Horowitz, Marvin J. & Bertoldi, Paolo, 2015. "A harmonized calculation model for transforming EU bottom-up energy efficiency indicators into empirical estimates of policy impacts," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 135-148.
    2. Carstens, Herman & Xia, Xiaohua & Yadavalli, Sarma, 2018. "Measurement uncertainty in energy monitoring: Present state of the art," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2791-2805.
    3. Kenneth Gillingham & Karen Palmer, 2014. "Bridging the Energy Efficiency Gap: Policy Insights from Economic Theory and Empirical Evidence," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 8(1), pages 18-38, January.
    4. Luis Ferney Moreno Castillo & Luis Bustos, 2020. "Las Asociaciones Público Privadas (APP) en el Sector Minero-Energético: Experiencia Nacional e Internacional," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1260, October.
    5. Mirnezami, Seyed Reza, 2014. "Electricity inequality in Canada: Should pricing reforms eliminate subsidies to encourage efficient usage?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 36-43.
    6. Wenbiao Cai, Hugh Grant, and Manish Pandey, 2018. "Vintage Capital, Technology Adoption and Electricity Demand-Side Management," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    7. Sijousa Basumatary & Mridula Devi & Konita Basumatary, 2021. "Determinants of Household Electricity Demand in Rural India: A Case Study of the Impacts of Government Subsidies and Surcharges," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 11(6), pages 243-249.
    8. Steve Dahlke & Matt Prorok, 2019. "Consumer Savings, Price, and Emissions Impacts of Increasing Demand Response in the Midcontinent Electricity Market," The Energy Journal, , vol. 40(3), pages 243-262, May.
    9. Boogen, Nina & Datta, Souvik & Filippini, Massimo, 2017. "Demand-side management by electric utilities in Switzerland: Analyzing its impact on residential electricity demand," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 402-414.
    10. Athukorala, Wasantha & Wilson, Clevo & Managi, Shunsuke & Karunarathna, Muditha, 2019. "Household demand for electricity: The role of market distortions and prices in competition policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    11. Alasseri, Rajeev & Tripathi, Ashish & Joji Rao, T. & Sreekanth, K.J., 2017. "A review on implementation strategies for demand side management (DSM) in Kuwait through incentive-based demand response programs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 617-635.
    12. Krupa, Joel, 2012. "An indeterminate future: Assessing the need for greater US–Canada transmission integration," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 99-101.
    13. Gulati, Sumeet & McAusland, Carol & Sallee, James M., 2017. "Tax incidence with endogenous quality and costly bargaining: Theory and evidence from hybrid vehicle subsidies," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 93-107.
    14. Marisa Beck, Randall Wigle, 2014. "Carbon Revenue: Recycling versus Technological Incentives," LCERPA Working Papers 0079, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised 13 Jan 2014.
    15. Dahlke, Steven & Prorok, Matt, 2018. "Consumer savings, price, and emissions impacts of increasing demand response in the Midcontinent electricity market," OSF Preprints d83bu, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Electric utilities; energy efficiency; demand side management; free riders; subsidy.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F0 - International Economics - - General

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