IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/enejou/v45y2024i2p209-235.html

Cost Focus versus Comfort Focus: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment with Swiss Residential Electricity Customers

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Winzer
  • Hongliang Zhang

Abstract

Based on a discrete choice experiment with 582 households in Switzerland, we find, that about 30% of the customers focus on price risks (cost focus) when they choose an electricity tariff, while 70% of the customers are more worried about volume risks (comfort focus). Customers with a cost focus, prefer contracts with low price risks and automatic load control, even when these contracts increased their volume risks and may lead to discomfort, while customers with a comfort focus are unlikely to choose a contract that exposes them to either price or volume risks. All customers prefer direct load control of individual appliances to capacity subscriptions or other demand response approaches which limit their total electricity demand. While customers with a cost focus likely accept direct load control even if this reduces their comfort, enrolling customers with a comfort focus will require further efforts and contracts avoiding comfort loss.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Winzer & Hongliang Zhang, 2024. "Cost Focus versus Comfort Focus: Evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment with Swiss Residential Electricity Customers," The Energy Journal, , vol. 45(2), pages 209-235, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:enejou:v:45:y:2024:i:2:p:209-235
    DOI: 10.5547/01956574.45.2.cwin
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5547/01956574.45.2.cwin
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5547/01956574.45.2.cwin?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. repec:aen:journl:1997v18-01-a04 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Yilmaz, Selin & Chanez, Cédric & Cuony, Peter & Patel, Martin Kumar, 2022. "Analysing utility-based direct load control programmes for heat pumps and electric vehicles considering customer segmentation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    3. repec:aen:journl:ej38-6-xiaoping is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Sylvain Weber & Paul Burger & Mehdi Farsi & Adan L. Martinez-Cruz & Michael Puntiroli & Iljana Schubert & Benjamin Volland, 2017. "Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey (SHEDS): Objectives, design, and implementation," IRENE Working Papers 17-14, IRENE Institute of Economic Research.
    5. Xu, Xiaojing & Chen, Chien-fei & Zhu, Xiaojuan & Hu, Qinran, 2018. "Promoting acceptance of direct load control programs in the United States: Financial incentive versus control option," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 1278-1287.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meysam Aboutalebi & Matin Bagherpour & Josef Noll & Geir Horn, 2025. "Exploring Cost–Comfort Trade-Off in Implicit Demand Response for Fully Electric Solar-Powered Nordic Households," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-40, October.

    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. Rigaux, Baptiste & Hamels, Sam & Ovaere, Marten, 2025. "The proof of the pudding is in the heating: A field experiment on household engagement with heat pump flexibility," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    2. Yilmaz, Selin & Cuony, Peter & Chanez, Cédric & Patel, Martin Kumar, 2024. "Communication strategies and consumer acceptance of utility-controlled heat pumps and electric vehicles," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. Julien Lancelot Michellod & Declan Kuch & Christian Winzer & Martin K. Patel & Selin Yilmaz, 2022. "Building Social License for Automated Demand-Side Management—Case Study Research in the Swiss Residential Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-25, October.
    4. Nilsson, Anders & Bartusch, Cajsa, 2024. "Empowered or enchained? Exploring consumer perspectives on Direct Load Control," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    5. Yilmaz, Selin & Xu, Xiaojing & Cabrera, Daniel & Chanez, Cédric & Cuony, Peter & Patel, Martin K., 2020. "Analysis of demand-side response preferences regarding electricity tariffs and direct load control: Key findings from a Swiss survey," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    6. Patrick Ludwig & Christian Winzer, 2022. "Tariff Menus to Avoid Rebound Peaks: Results from a Discrete Choice Experiment with Swiss Customers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-21, August.
    7. Constanze Liepold & Paul Fabianek & Reinhard Madlener, 2023. "A Multi-Criteria Assessment Framework for Direct Load Control in Residential Buildings from an Occupants’ Perspective," FCN Working Papers 15/2023, E.ON Energy Research Center, Future Energy Consumer Needs and Behavior (FCN).
    8. Fabianek, Paul & Liepold, Constanze & Madlener, Reinhard, 2025. "A multi-criteria assessment framework for direct load control in residential buildings from an occupants’ perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    9. Xu, Xiaojing & Chen, Chien-fei, 2019. "Energy efficiency and energy justice for U.S. low-income households: An analysis of multifaceted challenges and potential," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 763-774.
    10. Capper, Timothy & Kuriakose, Jaise & Sharmina, Maria, 2024. "Facilitating domestic demand response in Britain’s electricity system," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    11. Kachirayil, Febin & Yamaguchi, Yohei & Chen, Chien-fei & McKenna, Russell, 2025. "Estimating demand response potentials of domestic appliances: Insights from a Japanese survey," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    12. Velvart, Joëlle & Dato, Prudence & Kuhlmey, Florian, 2022. "Tailored interventions in a major life decision: A home relocation discrete choice experiment," Working papers 2022/03, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    13. Hediger, Cécile, 2023. "The more kilometers, the merrier? The rebound effect and its welfare implications in private mobility," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    14. Sarran, Lucile & Gunay, H. Burak & O'Brien, William & Hviid, Christian A. & Rode, Carsten, 2021. "A data-driven study of thermostat overrides during demand response events," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    15. Lin, Jin & Dong, Jun & Liu, Dongran & Zhang, Yaoyu & Ma, Tongtao, 2022. "From peak shedding to low-carbon transitions: Customer psychological factors in demand response," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    16. Landis, Florian & Rausch, Sebastian, 2019. "Policy Instrument Choice with Co-Benefits: The Case of Decarbonizing Transport," Conference papers 333103, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    17. Tilov, Ivan & Weber, Sylvain, 2023. "Heterogeneity in price elasticity of vehicle kilometers traveled: Evidence from micro-level panel data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    18. Fontecha, John E. & Nikolaev, Alexander & Walteros, Jose L. & Zhu, Zhenduo, 2022. "Scientists wanted? A literature review on incentive programs that promote pro-environmental consumer behavior: Energy, waste, and water," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    19. Xu, Shuling & Yang, Zihan & Deng, Nana & Wang, Bo, 2024. "Residents' willingness to be compensated for power rationing during peak hours based on choice experiment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    20. Ott, Laurent & Weber, Sylvain, 2022. "How effective is carbon taxation on residential heating demand? A household-level analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    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:45:y:2024:i:2:p:209-235. 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.