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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.

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  • 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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    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
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    Keywords

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