Non-price energy conservation information and household energy consumption in a developing country: evidence from an RCT

Ahsanuzzaman, , Eskander, Shaikh ORCID: 0000-0002-3325-5486, Islam, Asad and Wang, Liang Choon (2024) Non-price energy conservation information and household energy consumption in a developing country: evidence from an RCT. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 127. ISSN 0095-0696

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Abstract

We use a randomized controlled trial in Bangladesh to test three types of non-price energy conservation strategies that influence electricity consumption of households: (i) advice on electricity conservation methods (knowledge treatment); (ii) (median) electricity consumption of others in the suburb (suburb comparison); and (iii) (median) electricity consumption of neighbors (neighbor comparison). We find that providing advice on saving energy could reduce households' electricity consumption and bills significantly. The effects are stronger for advice on electricity conservation methods than neighbor and suburb comparisons. The effects of providing information about own electricity consumption relative to neighbors’ electricity consumption is similar to the effects of giving information about own electricity consumption relative to electricity consumption of households in the same suburb. The effects among households who were inefficient users in neighbor and suburb comparison groups are almost as strong as those in the knowledge treatment group. The effects across all treatment groups become stronger over time as they receive repeated information.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-e...
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Grantham Research Institute
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
JEL classification:	D - Microeconomics > D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics > D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D83 - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief D - Microeconomics > D9 - Intertemporal Choice and Growth > D91 - Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q40 - General Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q4 - Energy > Q41 - Demand and Supply
Date Deposited:	18 Jun 2024 15:15
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 04:20
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/123900

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