Obstacles to rational electricity use and measures to alleviate them

There is large potential for economically justified efficiency improvement in electricity use. But obstacles and market imperfections hinder the potentials from being fully realized. They are mostly group-specific and have to be matched with a suitable mix of instruments of energy policy. The obstacles and the cost-effective measures are described for three sectors: private households including space conditioning and electrical appliances, small and medium-sized companies, and small communities.