Electricity billing systems and household electricity use behaviour in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the behaviour of households regarding electric energy use in lighting, clothes washing, ironing, refrigerating, cooking and boiling of water in relation to electricity billing systems in Ibadan. The rational choice theory, augmented by sociological and psychological theories, forms the theoretical basis for this study. The purposive sampling method was used to select five LGAs in Ibadan, where 500 households were randomly selected. Cross tabulation technique was adopted to analyse the objectives. Regarding the use of electricity for lighting, the result showed that the metered electricity consumers have better energy saving behaviour than the unmetered consumers, while the postpaid meter users have more of energy wasting behaviour compared to the prepaid meter users. For washing clothes and ironing, the result showed that the unmetered customers have more energy wasting behaviour compared to metered customers. Also regarding the behaviour about the use of electricity for washing clothes and ironing, the postpaid users are more energy wasting. Lastly, while the unmetered electricity consumers are more energy wasting in the use of electric cooker, it is the metered consumers that have energy wasting behaviour in the use of refrigerators.