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Summertime Sadness: Time Sensitivity of Electricity Savings from a Behavioral Nudge

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Abstract

The paper reports the results of evaluating the hourly impact of a behavioral intervention tested in a randomized controlled trial. Under the program, a randomly selected group of households in Alberta was provided visual information on their home heat loss. I find that the households conserve the same amount of electricity during peak and off-peak electricity demand hours, i.e. the intervention has failed to target peak times, and accounting for the intraday distribution of the electricity savings is not important when measuring the social benefits of the program. As a policy recommendation, the study suggests implementing retail electricity prices fluctuating within a day.

Suggested Citation

  • Ekaterina Alekhanova, 2023. "Summertime Sadness: Time Sensitivity of Electricity Savings from a Behavioral Nudge," Carleton Economic Papers 23-01, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 11 Nov 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:car:carecp:23-01
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicholas Rivers and Blake Shaffer, 2020. "Stretching the Duck: How Rising Temperatures will Change the Level and Shape of Future Electricity Consumption," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 5), pages 55-88.
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    4. Papineau, Maya & Rivers, Nicholas, 2022. "Experimental evidence on heat loss visualization and personalized information to motivate energy savings," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    5. Severin Borenstein & James B. Bushnell, 2022. "Do Two Electricity Pricing Wrongs Make a Right? Cost Recovery, Externalities, and Efficiency," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 80-110, November.
    6. Katrina Jessoe & David Rapson, 2014. "Knowledge Is (Less) Power: Experimental Evidence from Residential Energy Use," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1417-1438, April.
    7. James Bushnell & Kevin Novan, 2021. "Setting with the Sun: The Impacts of Renewable Energy on Conventional Generation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(4), pages 759-796.
    8. Steve Martin & Nicholas Rivers, 2018. "Information Provision, Market Incentives, and Household Electricity Consumption: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Deployment," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 207-231.
    9. Kevin Novan & Aaron Smith & Tianxia Zhou, 2022. "Residential Building Codes Do Save Energy: Evidence from Hourly Smart-Meter Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 483-500, May.
    10. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    11. Jing Liang & Yueming Qiu & Bo Xing, 2021. "Social Versus Private Benefits of Energy Efficiency Under Time-of-Use and Increasing Block Pricing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 43-75, January.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Peak Electricity Demand; Behavior Nudge; Information Provision; Energy Efficiency; Randomized Controlled Trial;
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