Are consumers attentive to local energy costs? Evidence from the appliance market

Houde, Sébastien; Myers, Erica

doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104480

Cited by 14 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 32 publications

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“…One factor that acts as a barrier to a more rapid and widespread adoption of energy-efficient products is the absence of energy price signals 29,30 . Accordingly, research analyzing retail data suggests that consumers are sensitive to local energy prices when making purchase decisions 31 . This tendency may be intensified when there are drastic price changes 32 accompanied by high public attention, such as during the energy crisis.…”

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Unraveling the multidimensional impacts of the energy crisis on citizens’ judgment and decision-making

Frings,

Helm,

Hahnel

2023

Preprint

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The energy crisis has reshaped energy politics, resulting in energy price surges, increased energy capacity, and large-scale energy-saving campaigns. While an overall energy demand reduction has been observed in Europe, little is known about how the crisis has impacted citizens’ climate-relevant judgment and decision-making. We report a preregistered two-wave cross-national study (N=1040) spanning the winter of 2022/2023 to investigate how support for renewable energy (RE) policies, energy literacy, and energy-efficient product choices developed as this crisis unfolded. We couple longitudinal experimental data with real-world energy price data. This natural experiment indicates that energy-efficiency preferences were shaped by both, the salience of the crisis and real-world price signals. Changes in energy literacy were contingent on the numerical abilities of participants, suggesting that the crisis increased gaps in knowledge among different groups in society. Overall support for RE policies, and prioritization of key policy attributes, remained stable despite shifts in public attention and uncertainty.

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confidence: 99%

Unraveling the multidimensional impacts of the energy crisis on citizens’ judgment and decision-making

Frings,

Helm,

Hahnel

2023

Preprint

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Long-term Energy Cost Labelling for Appliances: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial in Ireland

Denny

2022

J Consum Policy

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Given the longevity of investments in energy-consuming products (such as household appliances, vehicles, and properties), underinvestment in energy efficiency can have long-lasting negative economic and environmental consequences. Previous research has indicated that underinvestment may be due to imperfect information in relation to the long-term benefits of investing in energy efficiency. This paper presents the results of a cluster randomised controlled trial examining an intervention which aims to overcome this information deficit by providing long-term energy cost information on appliances in an electrical retail chain in Ireland. Two treatments are considered: a label showing 10-year energy cost information based on typical usage for four appliance categories (fridge freezers, dishwashers, washing machines, and tumble dryers); and a second treatment which supplements this label with a QR code where consumers can gain personalised cost estimates based on their expected appliance usage. Results indicate that neither of the treatments resulted in an increase in the average energy efficiency of appliances sold. Also, engagement of customers with the QR code was extremely low. Given that the newly designed EU energy labels incorporate QR codes for personalisation, this low usage suggests that this element of the new labels may be ineffective in increasing the uptake of energy efficiency. Finally, a customer survey suggests that while the treatment increased the stated importance of energy efficiency in decision-making, this did not translate into an increase in efficiency of products purchased, i.e., stated preferences for energy efficiency did not translate into revealed purchasing preferences.

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Willingness-to-Pay for Energy Efficiency: Evidence from the European Common Market

Kesselring

2023

Environ Resource Econ

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This paper explores the willingness-to-pay for energy efficiency by exploiting variation across products and countries within the EU market for household appliances. Based on scanner data at product-level, I use the hedonic method to estimate implicit prices for energy efficiency and derive implicit discount rates. The paper argues that the implicit price will be underestimated when energy consumption is not only a determinant of operating cost but also is positively associated with other features of a product. The empirical analysis confirms that estimates of the willingness-to-pay are higher when this effect is accounted for in the estimation. This is especially true of product types for which the heterogeneity of usage intensity is low. The results thus indicate that the energy efficiency gap is smaller than found in earlier studies.

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Are consumers attentive to local energy costs? Evidence from the appliance market

Cited by 14 publications

References 32 publications

Unraveling the multidimensional impacts of the energy crisis on citizens’ judgment and decision-making

Unraveling the multidimensional impacts of the energy crisis on citizens’ judgment and decision-making

Long-term Energy Cost Labelling for Appliances: Evidence from a Randomised Controlled Trial in Ireland

Willingness-to-Pay for Energy Efficiency: Evidence from the European Common Market

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