Temperature change and daily urban-rural residential electricity consumption in northwestern China: Responsiveness and inequality

Daily temperature plays an important role in the comparison of the electricity consumption of urban and rural residents. Previous studies highlighted the impact of income on the relationship between temperature change and residential electricity consumption; however, urban-rural electricity consumption disparity and temperature-electricity response inequality have been neglected. This paper examines the response of urban and rural residents in a China’s northwestern province to temperature changes in terms of electricity consumption, and uncovers its impact on daily electricity consumption inequality between these two groups by using daily households’ electricity consumption dataset from 2017 to 2019. The study results show: (1) The urban response function exhibits a U-shaped distribution, whereas that of rural residents demonstrates a fluctuating upward trend. (2) When the daily mean temperature falls below 24 °C, the gap between urban and rural electricity consumption increases. (3) During the Spring Festival, the negative effects of extremely low temperatures will be reduced, while at the end of October, they will be increased. These findings can help policymakers reduce the electricity consumption inequality between urban and rural areas in the context of climate change.