Behavioral barriers to electricity demand management
The green transition of electricity supply requires us to change our electricity consumption habits. For decades, economists have recommended dynamic pricing to steer demand. But an extensive literature shows that price response has been disappointingly insufficient. Our objective is to understand what stands in the way of us using electricity more flexibly?
Denmark faces a significant challenge when we transition to an electricity system powered solely by renewable energy by 2030. Wind and solar, which are our primary renewable energy sources, are fluctuating by nature, and the fluctuations in production can make it expensive to balance the grid. Different measures are necessary for maintaining a stable and reliable power supply.
PI Christina Gravert will investigate a key part of the solution to the volatile supply of green electricity: incorporating flexibility on the consumer side.
As consumers we could play an active role in balancing the system by adjusting our consumption to the times when production is highest. Economists generally assume that measures such as peak-time charges and hourly billing will be effective in encouraging consumers to be more flexible in their electricity consumption.
Christina Gravert will investigate what the consumers' various behavioural barriers mean for their flexibility. Behavioural barriers include lack of information, inattention and adaptation costs.
‘An important aspect of our study is also to highlight possible heterogeneous effects across socio-economic groups in society. The results can form the basis for future energy policies that are both more efficient and fairer,’ Christina Gravert expects.
Researchers
| Name | Title | Job responsibilities | |
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| Amalie-Maria Meldgaard Jacobsen | PhD Fellow |
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| Christina Gravert | Associate Professor | Behavioral Economics; Experimental Economics; Public Policy; Nudging; Incentives and Behavior Change |
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| Daniel Enemark Riegels | PhD Student | Behavioral Economics, Energy Economics, Environmental Economics, Applied Microeconometrics |
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