Smart Meter Devices and The Effect of Feedback on Residential Electricity Consumption: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Northern Ireland

Will Gans (), Anna Alberini and Alberto Longo
Additional contact information
Will Gans: AREC, University of Maryland, College Park

No 11-78, CEPE Working paper series from CEPE Center for Energy Policy and Economics, ETH Zurich

Abstract: Using a unique set of data and exploiting a large-scale natural experiment, we estimate the effect of real-time usage information on residential electricity consumption in Northern Ireland. Starting in April 2002, the utility replaced prepayment meters with "smart" meters that allow the consumer to track usage in real-time. We rely on this event, account for the endogeneity of price and plan with consumption through a plan selection correction term, and find that the provision of information is associated with a decline in electricity consumption of up to 20 percent. We find that the reduction is robust to different specifications, selection-bias correction methods and subsamples of the original data. At GBP 15-17 per tonne of CO2e (2009), the smart meter program delivers cost-effective reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

Keywords: Residential Energy; Electricity Demand; Feedback; Smart Meter; Information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D8 Q40 Q41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2011-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ene and nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Smart meter devices and the effect of feedback on residential electricity consumption: Evidence from a natural experiment in Northern Ireland (2013)
Working Paper: Smart Meter Devices and The Effect of Feedback on Residential Electricity Consumption: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Northern Ireland (2011)
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