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How do consumers respond to price complexity? Experimental evidence from the power sector

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  • Jacobsen, Grant D.
  • Stewart, James I.

Abstract

Spurred in part by growing production from renewable sources and adoption of electric vehicles, time-variant pricing programs for electricity are increasingly being used to influence the shape of residential demand. The most common time-variant prices are time-of-use (TOU) prices, which vary by hour of day, and event-based prices, which take effect during idiosyncratic “critical” events. We present evidence on the effects of TOU prices and event-based prices when implemented in isolation versus simultaneously. The key finding is that time-variant prices reduce demand during critical events by 19% when event-based pricing is implemented in isolation, but only 5% when TOU and event-based prices are implemented together, despite both price schemes creating similar financial incentives. The results suggest that price complexity may dull consumer responsiveness to price signals.

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  • Jacobsen, Grant D. & Stewart, James I., 2022. "How do consumers respond to price complexity? Experimental evidence from the power sector," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeeman:v:116:y:2022:i:c:s0095069622000754
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102716
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    Cited by:

    1. Trivikram Dokka & Jorge Bruno & Sonali SenGupta & Chowdhury Mohammad Sakib Anwar, 2022. "Pricing and Electric Vehicle Charging Equilibria," Papers 2210.15035, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2022.
    2. Dokka, Trivikram & Bruno, Jorge & SenGupta, Sonali & Anwar, Sakib, 2022. "Pricing and Electric Vehicle Charging Equilibria," QBS Working Paper Series 2022/10, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price complexity; Time-variant pricing; Critical peak rebates; Time-of-use pricing; Electricity; Dynamic prices;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q21 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

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