IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v31y2010i3p113-132.html

The Effect of Feedback by Text Message (SMS) and Email on Household Electricity Consumption: Experimental Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Gleerup
  • Anders Larsen
  • Leth-Petersen SÏ•ren
  • Mikael Togeby

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effect of supplying feedback by text messages (SMS) and email about electricity consumption on the level of total household electricity consumption. An experiment was conducted in which 1,452 households were randomly allocated to three experimental groups and two control groups. Feedback was supplied throughout 2007 to members of the experiment groups who accepted the invitation, and data on consumption of electricity for 2006 and 2007 collected for all participants and control group members. 30% of the households invited to receive feedback accepted the invitation. Results suggest that email and SMS messaging that communicated timely information about a household’s ‘exceptional’ consumption periods (e.g. highest week of electricity use in past quarter) produced average reductions in total annual electricity use of about 3%. The feedback technology is cheap to implement and therefore likely to be cost-effective.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Gleerup & Anders Larsen & Leth-Petersen SÏ•ren & Mikael Togeby, 2010. "The Effect of Feedback by Text Message (SMS) and Email on Household Electricity Consumption: Experimental Evidence," The Energy Journal, , vol. 31(3), pages 113-132, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:31:y:2010:i:3:p:113-132
    DOI: 10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol31-No3-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol31-No3-6
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/ISSN0195-6574-EJ-Vol31-No3-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duflo, Esther & Glennerster, Rachel & Kremer, Michael, 2008. "Using Randomization in Development Economics Research: A Toolkit," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 61, pages 3895-3962, Elsevier.
    2. Peter C. Reiss & Matthew W. White, 2008. "What changes energy consumption? Prices and public pressures," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 39(3), pages 636-663, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eduardo Fernández-Arias & Ricardo Hausmann & Ugo Panizza, 2020. "Smart Development Banks," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 395-420, June.
    2. Patrick Guillaumont, 2011. "Aid effectiveness for poverty reduction:macroeconomic overview and emerging issues," CERDI Working papers halshs-00554285, HAL.
    3. Kemeze, Francis Hypolite, 2018. "The Impact of Agricultural Insurance on the Demand for Supplemental Irrigation: A Randomized Controlled Trial Experimental Evidence in Northern Ghana," Monographs: Applied Economics, AgEcon Search, number 302442.
    4. repec:osf:osfxxx:nwp8k_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Koichiro ITO & Takanori IDA & Makoto TANAKA, 2015. "The Persistence of Moral Suasion and Economic Incentives: Field experimental evidence from energy demand," Discussion papers 15014, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Stanley, T. D. & Doucouliagos, Chris, 2019. "Practical Significance, Meta-Analysis and the Credibility of Economics," IZA Discussion Papers 12458, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Tsiboe, Francis & Nalley, Lawton Lanier & Dixon, Bruce L. & Popp, Jennie S. & Luckstead, Jeff, 2014. "Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Cocoa Livelihoods Program in Sub-Saharan Africa," 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia 195775, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    8. Atonu Rabbani, 2017. "Can Leaders Promote Better Health Behavior? Learning from a Sanitation and Hygiene Communication Experiment in Rural Bangladesh," Working Papers id:11904, eSocialSciences.
    9. Martin, Will, 2021. "Tools for measuring the full impacts of agricultural interventions," IFPRI-MCC technical papers 2, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    11. Patrizia Lattarulo & Marco Mariani & Laura Razzolini, 2017. "Erratum to: Nudging museums attendance: a field experiment with high school teens," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 41(3), pages 279-281, August.
    12. Orla Doyle & Nick Fitzpatrick & Judy Lovett & Caroline Rawdon, 2015. "Early intervention and child health: Evidence from a Dublin-based randomized controlled trial," Working Papers 201505, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    13. Christopher Snyder & Ran Zhuo, 2018. "Sniff Tests as a Screen in the Publication Process: Throwing out the Wheat with the Chaff," NBER Working Papers 25058, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Sawada Yasuyuki & Shoji Masahiro & Sugawara Shinya & Shinkai Naoko, 2014. "The Role of Infrastructure in Mitigating Poverty Dynamics: The Case of an Irrigation Project in Sri Lanka," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(3), pages 1117-1144, July.
    15. Morikawa, Masayuki, 2012. "Population density and efficiency in energy consumption: An empirical analysis of service establishments," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1617-1622.
    16. Dincecco, Mark & Katz, Gabriel, 2012. "State Capacity and Long-Run Performance," MPRA Paper 38299, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Karnani, Mohit, 2016. "Freshmen teachers and college major choice: Evidence from a random assignment in Chile," MPRA Paper 76062, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Huse, Cristian & Lucinda, Claudio & Cardoso, Andre Ribeiro, 2020. "Consumer response to energy label policies: Evidence from the Brazilian energy label program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    19. Laura Abramovsky & Orazio Attanasio & Kai Barron & Pedro Carneiro & George Stoye, 2016. "Challenges to Promoting Social Inclusion of the Extreme Poor: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment in Colombia," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Spring 20), pages 89-141.
    20. Tähtinen, Tuuli, 2024. "When Facebook Is the Internet: The Role of Social Media in Ethnic Conflict," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    21. Sriroop Chaudhuri & Mimi Roy & Louis M. McDonald & Yves Emendack, 2021. "Reflections on farmers’ social networks: a means for sustainable agricultural development?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 2973-3008, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:31:y:2010:i:3:p:113-132. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.