Applied Statistics and Data Science Seminar on Monday, November 11, 2024

Title: Engineering Energy Efficiency among Residential Customers in Dhaka using Home Energy Reports (HERs)

Venue and time: ISRT, 2:00 pm

Speaker: Atonu Rabbani, Ph.D, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Dhaka

Abstract:

In this study, we estimated the potential impacts of home energy reports (HERs) on energy efficient behaviours among residential customers of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. We partnered with one of the two major retail power distribution companies. Using administrative consumption data, we developed HERs with social feedback or descriptive norms, where customers received comparisons between their own consumption and the averages of their neighbours. Using a randomized control trial, we compared the electric energy consumption of a group who received “placebo” reports based only on their own consumption and without any comparison groups. Our findings suggest that the energy consumption declined by about 5 percent. However, these impacts were short-lived and there was also suggestive evidence of possible rebound effects. Consistent with prior findings, we also found that the impacts were larger for consumers who had higher consumption based on pre-intervention energy consumption. The point estimates suggest that households who received feedbacks based on their expenditure exhibited a larger impact compared to the households who received quantity-based feedbacks. The preliminary analyses suggest that behavioural nudges can be effective in the short run and that more intense and continuous feedback may be necessary for longer-term effects.