Residential Electricity Consumption Behaviors in Eastern Romania: A Non-Invasive Survey-Based Assessment of Consumer Patterns

Codrin Donciu, Elena Serea () and Marinel Costel Temneanu
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Codrin Donciu: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași, 700050 Iași, Romania
Elena Serea: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași, 700050 Iași, Romania
Marinel Costel Temneanu: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iași, 700050 Iași, Romania

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: This study investigates residential electricity consumption behaviors in the Moldova region of Romania, with a focus on identifying consumption patterns through a non-invasive, survey-based approach. Unlike intrusive monitoring or smart metering methods, the survey collected detailed self-reported data on appliance use, time-of-use awareness, and household characteristics across 55 residential units. The analysis introduced an error-based metric comparing calculated and billed consumption, modeled under a normal distribution to assess estimation accuracy. Results reveal a stable dominance of mid-range consumption bands, alongside emerging stratification, with an increasing share of households transitioning to higher consumption levels. Appliance-level analyses highlight systematic underestimation of high-load devices, such as washing machines and HVAC systems, reflecting perceptual gaps in consumer awareness. Furthermore, demographic profiling indicates that in many households, high-duration and high-load consumers differ, with women more frequently assuming dual roles in energy-intensive tasks within the traditional Eastern European context. The findings demonstrate the potential of non-invasive survey methods to capture behavioral dimensions of energy use that remain underexplored in the absence of smart metering infrastructure, offering new insights into demand-side heterogeneity in peripheral EU regions.

Keywords: residential electricity consumption; consumer behavior; consumer awareness of electricity use; non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM); disaggregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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