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Summertime Sadness: Time Sensitivity of Electricity Savings from a Behavioral Nudge

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Abstract

The paper reports the results of evaluating the hourly impact of a behavioral intervention tested in a randomized controlled trial. Under the program, a randomly selected group of households in Alberta was provided visual information on their home heat loss. I find that the households conserve the same amount of electricity during peak and off-peak electricity demand hours, i.e. the intervention has failed to target peak times, and accounting for the intraday distribution of the electricity savings is not important when measuring the social benefits of the program. As a policy recommendation, the study suggests implementing retail electricity prices fluctuating within a day.

Suggested Citation

  • Ekaterina Alekhanova, 2023. "Summertime Sadness: Time Sensitivity of Electricity Savings from a Behavioral Nudge," Carleton Economic Papers 23-01, Carleton University, Department of Economics, revised 11 Nov 2023.
    • Handle: RePEc:car:carecp:23-01
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Clément de Chaisemartin & Xavier D'Haultfœuille, 2020. "Two-Way Fixed Effects Estimators with Heterogeneous Treatment Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(9), pages 2964-2996, September.
    2. Papineau, Maya & Rivers, Nicholas, 2022. "Experimental evidence on heat loss visualization and personalized information to motivate energy savings," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    3. Severin Borenstein & James B. Bushnell, 2022. "Do Two Electricity Pricing Wrongs Make a Right? Cost Recovery, Externalities, and Efficiency," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 80-110, November.
    4. Steve Martin & Nicholas Rivers, 2018. "Information Provision, Market Incentives, and Household Electricity Consumption: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Deployment," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 207-231.
    5. Goodman-Bacon, Andrew, 2021. "Difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 254-277.
    6. Katrina Jessoe & David Rapson, 2014. "Knowledge Is (Less) Power: Experimental Evidence from Residential Energy Use," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(4), pages 1417-1438, April.
    7. Judson Boomhower & Lucas Davis, 2020. "Do Energy Efficiency Investments Deliver at the Right Time?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 115-139, January.
    8. James Bushnell & Kevin Novan, 2021. "Setting with the Sun: The Impacts of Renewable Energy on Conventional Generation," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(4), pages 759-796.
    9. Kevin Novan & Aaron Smith & Tianxia Zhou, 2022. "Residential Building Codes Do Save Energy: Evidence from Hourly Smart-Meter Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(3), pages 483-500, May.
    10. repec:aen:journl:ej41-5-shaffer is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Jing Liang & Yueming Qiu & Bo Xing, 2021. "Social Versus Private Benefits of Energy Efficiency Under Time-of-Use and Increasing Block Pricing," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 78(1), pages 43-75, January.
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