Reducing Electricity Demand through Smart Metering: The Role of Improved Household Knowledge

James Carroll (), Sean Lyons and Eleanor Denny ()

Economic Papers from Trinity College Dublin, Economics Department

Abstract: The international rollout of residential smart meters has increased considerably in recent years. The improved consumption feedback provided, and in particular, the installation of in-house displays, has been shown to significantly reduce residential electricity demand in some international trials. This paper attempts to uncover the underlying drivers of such information-led reductions by exploring two research questions. First, does feedback improve a household's knowledge of energy reducing behaviors? And second, do knowledge improvements explain demand reductions? Data is from a randomized controlled smart metering trial (Ireland) which also collected extensive information on household attitudes towards and knowledge of electricity use. Results show that feedback significantly increases a household's knowledge but improvements are not correlated with observed demand reductions. Increasing the level of knowledge ceteris paribus is therefore unlikely to bring short-run demand reductions in residential electricity markets. Given this result, it is possible that feedback acts mainly as a reminder and motivator, rather than an educational tool

Keywords: Residential Electricity Demand; Smart Meters; Consumption Feedback; Household Knowledge; Conservation Motivations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 D83 Q40 Q41 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 28 pages
Date: 2013-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0313

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