U.S. commercial electricity consumption

Sergio Contreras, Wm. Doyle Smith and Thomas Fullerton ()

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Commercial electricity usage exceeds that of industrial usage and is almost as large as residential electricity consumption in the United States. In this study, regional economic, demographic, and climatic data are used to analyze commercial electricity demand in the United States. Results indicate that total commercial demand for electricity is negatively related to price. In addition, the number of businesses and service income positively affect electricity demand for commercial use. The results are similar for equations estimated for kilowatt-hours demanded per business. The regional dummy variables exhibit different signs, which may occur due to climate factors because warm weather regions experience greater volumes of cooling degree-days, while cool weather regions observe larger amounts of heating degree-days. Although coefficients for the price of natural gas are positive, they do not satisfy the 5-percent significance criterion. The latter suggests that natural gas may not be a substitute good for electricity within the commercial sector of the U.S. economy.

Keywords: Commercial Electricity Consumption; Regional Economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M21 Q43 R15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-01-11, Revised 2011-05-22
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Mountain Plains Journal of Business & Economics 1.12(2011): pp. 27-41

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