Institutions involved | UniNE, EPFL, Planair |
Contact persons | Sylvain Weber (UniNE) |
Keywords | Household electricity usage, smart metering, demand response, randomized control trial |
Disciplines | Economics |
Unit of observation | Households |
Period | 01.10.2013 - 31.03.2015 |
Geographical space | Cernier (Neuchâtel, Switzerland) |
Data collection method | Online survey + electricity consumption transmitted by provider |
Data availability | Not available |
Publications and working papers
Description
Electricity usage in kWh is provided for 105 households in fifteen-minute intervals during the observation period (1st October 2013 to 31st March 2015). Additionally, households have filled an online survey, which consisted of about 60 questions related to households’ characteristics (family size, education, income, etc.), family’s routine (days people eat at home, number of working days, days when family does laundry, etc.), apartment features (size, number of rooms, type of heating system, electrical devices, etc.), and the respondent’s environmental concerns (preferences for appliances that save energy, use of led bulbs, interest in environmental topics, etc.).
From the 1st January 2014 to the 31st December 2014, a randomized control trial has been implemented. The households were then allocated to one of three groups: (1) a control group, (2) a treatment group that received a monthly information feedback about their electricity usage, or (3) a treatment group that participated into a contest with financial rewards and where rankings were based on the daily pattern of electricity usage. The objective of both treatments was to nudge households to shift electricity usage toward the middle of the day, in order to reduce the mismatch between the production of electricity from solar sources and electricity consumption.