Effects of feedback on residential electricity demand - findings from a field trial in Austria

This paper analyzes the effects of providing feedback on electricity consumption in a field trial involving more than 1,500 households in Linz, Austria. About half of these households received feedback together with information about electricity-saving measures (pilot group), while the remaining households served as a control group. Participation in the pilot group was random, but households were able to choose between two types of feedback: access to a web portal or written feedback by post. Results from cross section OLS regression suggest that feedback provided to the pilot group corresponds with electricity savings of around 4.5 % for the average household. Our results from quantile regressions imply that for house-holds in the 30th to the 70th percentile, feedback on electricity consumption is statistically significant and effects are highest in absolute terms and as a share of electricity consumption. For percentiles below or above this range, feedback appears to have no effect. Finally, controlling for a potential endogeneity bias in-duced by non random participation in the feedback type groups, we find no differ-ence in the effects of feedback provided via the web portal and by post.