Energy Subsidies and Potential Reforms in the Gulf Region: Investigating Villa Residents’ Electricity Consumption and the Factors Influencing It in Kuwait’s Six Governorates

This paper investigates the electricity consumption of 150 Kuwaiti residential villas located in Kuwait’s six governorates. The data collection is based on monthly electricity meter readings, collected directly from photographs of the sample of villas’ analog electricity meters, between 2018 and 2023. Most available previous studies, reviewed in this paper, not only relied mainly on secondary aggregated data of annual electricity consumption in villas but also from smaller samples located in some but not all of Kuwait’s governorates. The current paper is, therefore, based on a study that is the first of its kind in Kuwait, as it relies on primary data with a high level of granularity based on monthly meter readings for a large sample of villas. Average daily electricity consumption and overall average monthly electricity consumption from samples located in each governorate are presented. The data analyses reveal that the daily electricity consumption in Kuwaiti villas is almost five times higher at the beginning of summer than in winter, indicating the high load required from the electricity grid in Kuwait and the large subsidies provided by the government. Furthermore, the paper investigates whether there are any common characteristics between the villas with high monthly electricity consumption in the sample. Correlations between villas’ monthly electricity consumption and their governorate location, year of construction, number of floors, number of occupants, plot size, and compliance with various editions of the Kuwait Energy Conservation Code of Practice for Buildings ECCPB were found. The results reveal that 80% of these villas had plot sizes greater than 400 m 2 , 74% of these villas were built in 1996 or later, and 63% of these villas had occupants greater than seven. This paper highlights the need to carry out further research to understand the drivers of electricity consumption, including occupants’ behavioral aspects, to inform the development of futures strategies that address the ever-increasing electricity consumption in Kuwait’s heavily subsidized residential sector and meet the target goals of the United Nations 2023 Kuwait’s Voluntary National Review VNR.