IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rza/ersawp/250.html

The average hourly impact of price changes on household electricity consumption

Author

Listed:
  • Steven F. Koch

  • Yuxiang Ye

Abstract

This study evaluates the effect of marginal price changes on residential electricity consumption. The study is underpinned by hourly meter data that is matched to household level survey data in South Africa. It provides the first estimate of residential responses to price changes at the hourly level in a developing country. The price structure follows an incline block tariff allowing us to apply difference-in-differences. Our results uncover the expected negative relationship between price and electricity consumption, once we condition on both observed and unobserved confounding factors, especially temperature. We also find that relatively energy dependent households are less responsive to price changes than those less dependent.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven F. Koch & Yuxiang Ye, 2026. "The average hourly impact of price changes on household electricity consumption," ERSA Working Paper Series 250, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    • Handle: RePEc:rza:ersawp:250
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ersawps.org/index.php/working-paper-series/article/view/250/220
    File Function: First version, 2026
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Deniz Sevinc & Edgar Mata Flores & Simon Collinson, 2020. "Are there inequality spillovers? Evidence through a modified inequality measure and European dynamics of inequality," Working Papers 545, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    3. Vuković, Darko B. & Hassan, M. Kabir & Kwakye, Bernard & Febtinugraini, Armike & Shakib, Mohammed, 2024. "Does fintech matter for financial inclusion and financial stability in BRICS markets?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Ekeocha, Patterson & Ogbuabor, Jonathan, 2020. "Measuring and Evaluating the Dynamics of Trade Shock Propagation in the Oceania," Conference papers 333234, Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Global Trade Analysis Project.
    5. Adrino Mazenda, 2016. "The Effect of BRICS Trade Relations on South Africa’s Growth," EERI Research Paper Series EERI RP 2016/11, Economics and Econometrics Research Institute (EERI), Brussels.
    6. Konstantakis, Konstantinos N. & Michaelides, Panayotis G. & Tsionas, Efthymios G. & Minou, Chrysanthi, 2015. "System estimation of GVAR with two dominants and network theory: Evidence for BRICs," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 604-616.
    7. Biyase Mduduzi & Rooderick September, 2018. "Determinants of FDI in BRICS Countries: Panel Data Approach," Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Oeconomica, Paradigm, vol. 63(2), pages 35-48, August.
    8. Bhattacharya, Mita & Inekwe, John Nkwoma & Valenzuela, Maria Rebecca, 2018. "Financial integration in Africa: New evidence using network approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 379-390.
    9. Emilie Kinfack & Lumengo Bonga-Bonga, 2020. "Trade Linkages and Business Cycle Co-movement: Analysis of Trade between African Economies and their Main Trading partners," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 73(2), pages 275-306.
    10. Houssa, Romain & Mohimont, Jolan & Otrok, Christopher, 2023. "Commodity exports, financial frictions, and international spillovers," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    11. Sinha, Avik & Sen, Sudipta, 2016. "Atmospheric consequences of trade and human development: A case of BRIC countries," MPRA Paper 100011, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Md. Mominur Rahman & Md. Abdul Halim, 2024. "Does the export-to-import ratio affect environmental sustainability? Evidence from BRICS countries," Energy & Environment, , vol. 35(2), pages 904-926, March.
    13. Nazmus Sadat Khan, 2020. "Spillover Effects of Trade Shocks in the Central and Eastern European and Baltic Countries," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 35(1), pages 39-68.
    14. repec:rza:wpaper:362 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Hany Abdel-Latif & Tapas Mishra & Anita Staneva, 2019. "Arab Countries between Winter and Spring: Where Democracy Shock Goes Next!," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, March.
    16. Konstantakis, Konstantinos N. & Soklis, George & Michaelides, Panayotis G., 2017. "Tourism expenditures and crisis transmission: A general equilibrium GVAR analysis with network theory," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 74-94.
    17. Rudkin, Simon & Wong, Sen Min, 2015. "South East Asian Financial Linkages and the Changing Role of China: Insights from a Global VAR," MPRA Paper 65001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Johnson Worlanyo Ahiadorme, 2022. "On the aggregate effects of global uncertainty: Evidence from an emerging economy," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 90(3), pages 390-407, September.
    19. Taiwo, Shakirudeen & Uwillingiye, Josine & Osei-Assibey, Kwame, 2026. "Macroeconomic fluctuations in Sub-Saharan Africa: Role of external shocks," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    20. Mustafa Çakir & Alain Kabundi, 2017. "Transmission of China's Shocks to the BRIS Countries," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 85(3), pages 430-454, September.
    21. Wu, Xianhua & Guo, Ji & Song, Shunfeng, 2023. "Influence of international trade disputes on the world industrial economic system based on inoperability input-output model," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 787-803.
    22. Daniel Zerfu Gurara & Mthuli Ncube, 2013. "We develop a global vector autoregressive model (GVAR) to analyze the global growth spillover effects on Africa. The model contains 46 African countries and 30 developed and emerging market countries, covering 90 percent of the world economy. The res," Working Paper Series 981, African Development Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

    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:rza:ersawp:250. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Maggi Sigg (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ersawps.org/index.php/working-paper-series/ .

    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.