Routines or technologies? Understanding residential load profiles from smart meter data

Valentin Favre-Bulle and Sylvain Weber ()

No 26-03, IRENE Working Papers from IRENE Institute of Economic Research

Abstract: We analyse two years of hourly electricity consumption data from approximately 4,000 households. Using cluster analysis, we identify four household clusters that differ in both their electricity consumption levels and the timing of daily electricity use. We estimate multinomial logit models to examine how dwelling characteristics and socio-demographic variables are associated with cluster membership. Our results suggest that residential electricity consumption is shaped by two complementary factors: household routines and electrification technologies. Differences between less electrified households are mainly associated with socio-demographic characteristics reflecting daily routines, particularly employment status, whereas highly electrified households are primarily distinguished by major electrification technologies, particularly electric space heating and electric water heating. We finally discuss the policy implications of these findings, highlighting the need for demand-side policies tailored to the characteristics of different household segments.

Keywords: Cluster analysis; Demand-side management; Household electricity load profiles; Load curves; Multinomial logit model; Smart meters analytics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C38 D12 L94 Q41 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages.
Date: 2026-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:irn:wpaper:26-03

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