Seminar speaker: Nina Boogen, Researcher and Lecturer at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)

onsdag 12 feb, 2025

13:15 - 14:15

Kronan A315, SLU

Title: Households’ Willingness to Curtail Electricity Usage During Winter Shortages –– A Field Experiment

Abstract: Russia’s war on Ukraine has sparked a global energy crisis. While the winter of 2022/23 was relatively mild in Europe (and energy shortages did not occur), more energy price shocks in the markets may happen in the future. This paper reports results on a field experiment regarding households’ revealed willingness to turn down their heat pump when faced with the extremely high electricity prices that could be expected during future electricity shortages. The experiment was conducted in cooperation with a Swiss energy provider that invited residential customers with heat pumps to participate. In an incentivized experiment, we exposed participants to weekly price signals. We observed that the average heat pump electricity consumption of treated households was 13.7% lower on treated days than consumption in the control group. The average observed energy saving compared to the control group was 9% during periods with a low price signal and increased to 15% during periods with high price signals. Our results are relevant for the design of public policies when reacting to short-term energy shortages. During the 2022/23 energy crisis, most European countries based their policy reaction on information campaigns and voluntary measures to achieve energy savings. Additional price-based policies could help to achieve higher energy savings during future energy shortages.