Abstract
The recent rapid transition in energy markets and technological advances in demand-side interventions has renewed attention on consumer behavior. A rich literature on potential factors affecting residential energy use or green technology adoption has highlighted the need to better understand the fundamental causes of consumer heterogeneity in buildings’ energy-related behavior. Unresolved questions such as which consumers are most likely to opt into demand-side management programs and what factors might explain the wide variation in behavioral responses to such programs make it difficult for policy-makers to develop cost-effective energy efficiency or demand response programs for residential buildings. This study extends the literature on involvement theory and energy-related behavior by proposing a holistic construct of household energy involvement (HEI) to represent consumers’ personal level of interest in energy services. Based on a survey of 5487 Korean households, it finds that HEI has a stronger association with consumer values, such as preferences for indoor thermal comfort and automation, than with socioeconomic or housing characteristics and demonstrates HEI’s potential as a reliable, integrated predictor of both energy consumption and energy-efficient purchases. The study illuminates the multifaceted influences that shape energy-related behavior in residential buildings and offers new tools to help utility regulators identify and profile viable market segments, improve the cost-effectiveness of their programs, and eventually promote urban sustainability.
Highlights
In many parts of the world, the retail sector of the energy industry is witnessing a rapid transition characterized by the entrance of multiple electricity service providers offering alternative energy service products and energy efficiency contracts for residential buildings
Our multidimensional analysis of household energy involvement (HEI) indicates that the consumer values and preferences attributes are strong explanatory factors for HEI, in contrast to the models consisting of sociodemographic and housing characteristics (HModels 1 and 3 in Table 3), which exhibit very little explanatory power
We identified value and preference attributes as the most critical dimensions or elements affecting the level of HEI and demonstrated that their inclusion provides greater explanatory power than models consisting of sociodemographic and housing characteristics only
Summary
In many parts of the world, the retail sector of the energy industry is witnessing a rapid transition characterized by the entrance of multiple electricity service providers offering alternative energy service products and energy efficiency contracts for residential buildings. Households can choose from a suite of energy pricing and service arrangements offered by multiple electricity service providers in the same service territory This market transition is being facilitated by recent advances in the collection and analysis of disaggregated energy-use data that will allow providers to obtain personalized real-time, appliance-level feedback and further tap the benefits of energy efficiency and changes in households’ energy-consumption behavior. These changes in the market and technological advances in demand-side interventions have highlighted the need to better understand the energy-related behaviors of consumers in residential buildings [1,2,3]. Numerous pilot programs in the United States and Europe have assessed the impact of various pecuniary (e.g., dynamic pricing plans, demand response contracts) and nonpecuniary interventions (e.g., information programs and feedback) on household energy consumption, unresolved policy-level questions include who is likely to opt into demand-side management programs, what might explain the wide variation in behavioral responses to such programs, and how to effectively approach individual consumers in a cost-effective manner
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