The Effects of Information on Residential Demand for Electricity

This paper measures the effects of information on residential demand for electricity, using data from a Japanese experiment. In the experiment, households had a continuous-display, electricity use monitoring device installed at their residence. The monitor was designed so that each consumer could easily look at graphs and tables associated with the consumer's own usage of electricity at any time during the experiment. The panel data were used to estimate a random effects model of electricity and count data models of monitor usage. The results indicate that monitor usage contributed to energy conservation.