Article: Smart meters and household electricity consumption: A case study in Ireland
Abstract
Our paper focuses on the electricity consumption in the EU countries and smart meters that are gaining growing popularity and widely used by households and businesses for measuring power consumption and helping to reduce the costs of energy. We use the data collected by the Commission for Energy Regulation in the Republic of Ireland in 2009–2011. The trial included two survey questionnaires (pre-trail and post-trial) administered over the telephone and containing both quantitative data (e.g. Likert scales, dummies, selections, etc.) and open-ended questions. In total, 4232 respondents (individual households) involved in pre-trial and 3423 households involved in post-trial. The second questionnaire was administered 12 months after the first one with the same households participating in the trial. Our methodology involves the implementation of various alternative statistical specifications that allow us to test our hypotheses first by using simple binary form of logistic regression and then by employing its extensions.
Our results show that households keen on changing their electricity consumption with the help of smart meters (and perhaps the new, even smarter grids of the future) are also those who would change their consumption patterns in order to have the positive impact on environment. Moreover, it appeared that saving on energy might be more relevant for people who do not have their own place to live and are renting their accommodation. Our findings might be relevant for the stakeholders and policy-makers dealing with setting up the new energy policy framework aimed at tackling the increasing use of energy and energy efficiency and paving the way in the direction of the low-carbon future.
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