Tackling Energy Poverty Through Behavioral Change: A Pilot Study on Social Comparison Interventions in Social Housing Districts

Caballero, Nicolás de la Plata; Valle, Nives Della

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3659866

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Wasteful electricity use practices in the household can be attributed to human behaviour [15,29]. Household daily electricity consumption practices have a direct impact on electricity demand [30]; hence, wasteful behaviours pose serious implications for both the household financial budget and the national grid [11,21]. Unsustainable electricity use practices can result in energy poverty [5,12] as a result of high electricity expenditures relative to income [12], as well as power cuts when electricity demand outstrips electricity supply, and can adversely impact the environment due to carbon emissions [11].…”

Section: Understanding Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, behavioural change is arguably a cheaper and more sustainable way to achieve electricity conservation [19,20] and, in turn, address grid instability and energy poverty. Behaviour change has low implementation costs [19], can benefit users directly, is long-term, and can reduce municipal electricity bills, which means financial savings can be used on other service delivery issues [21]. However, there is still limited work on residential electricity consumption in South Africa apart from a few noteworthy exceptions [22,23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reported Behavioural Patterns of Electricity Use among Low-Income Households in Makhanda, South Africa

2021

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Households consume up to 20% of overall electricity consumption globally; hence, they are important role players in efforts towards promoting sustainable consumption. Research on electricity use behaviour is important for informing intervention strategies; however, relative to developed countries, research on this subject is lacking in developing countries where electricity access is limited. In South Africa, electricity use behaviour among poor neighbourhoods remains little studied and understood. This study was carried out among low-income households in Makhanda, South Africa, characterised by high poverty and unemployment rates, low education levels, and limited access to basic services. Using a self-reporting approach, electricity use behaviour of low-income households was assessed against a list of common household electricity use actions. A survey of 297 households was conducted. The findings show mixed results, with households reporting both good electricity use behaviour (e.g., cooling down hot food before refrigeration and using washing machines on full load) and wasteful actions (e.g., leaving appliances on standby). Our results show that electricity use behaviour was influenced by socio-psychological values including universalism, benevolence, hedonism, and power. Some of the reported electricity behavioural patterns are consistent with those previously reported among high-income households. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

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Section: Understanding Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reported Behavioural Patterns of Electricity Use among Low-Income Households in Makhanda, South Africa

2021

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“…The views expressed here are purely those of the authors and may not, under any circumstances, be regarded as an official position of the European Commission. A preprint version of this paper was posted on SSRN by the authors on September 8th 2020 and can be found in the article (Caballero and Della Valle, 2020).…”

Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tackling Energy Poverty Through Behavioral Change: A Pilot Study on Social Comparison Interventions in Social Housing Districts

Caballero

Valle

2021

Front. Sustain. Cities

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Behavioral Economics has in recent years played a key role in informing the design of non-price interventions aimed at promoting energy conservation behaviors in residential housing. Some of the most influential contributions of the discipline in an applied setting have centered around the development of norm-based interventions. The success that these interventions have had in specific contexts presents an opportunity to exploit them as tools for tackling a prevalent type of poverty at the EU level: energy poverty. Recent contributions to the literature highlight the role of inefficient energy behavior as a significant driver of this particular type of poverty, which is characterized by an inability to afford the basic energy services necessary to guarantee a decent standard of living. Therefore, the effectiveness of norm-based interventions in vulnerable populations merits further investigation to determine whether this approach can suitably address the behavioral components of energy poverty by promoting efficient energy consumption and conservation efforts. This study reports on a pilot conducted in an exemplary social housing context (located in Bolzano, Italy) with the aim to assess the effectiveness of social comparison interventions in energy vulnerable groups. Our investigated cohort covers an initial small sample of apartments with a large representatives of elderly individuals and other energy-vulnerable groups. Using a design that combines appeals to injunctive and descriptive norms embedded within In-Home Devices (IHD) in recently retrofitted homes, our objective is to set a basis for the assessment of effectiveness of these types of interventions in social housing populations. Our study seeks to provide useful methodological insights to policy makers on how to effectively design behaviorally informed interventions aimed at tackling energy poverty. Despite the current data limitations, our results do seem to suggest that uniformly applied norm-based interventions may have potentially backfiring effects in small-scale implementations. Therefore, they suggest that attention needs to be paid to household composition and pre-existing levels of consumption, when designing behavior-change interventions in these groups.JEL Classification: C93; D03; D04; D12; D19; D91; Q40.

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Tackling Energy Poverty Through Behavioral Change: A Pilot Study on Social Comparison Interventions in Social Housing Districts

Cited by 2 publications

References 22 publications

Reported Behavioural Patterns of Electricity Use among Low-Income Households in Makhanda, South Africa

Reported Behavioural Patterns of Electricity Use among Low-Income Households in Makhanda, South Africa

Tackling Energy Poverty Through Behavioral Change: A Pilot Study on Social Comparison Interventions in Social Housing Districts

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