Working Papers

WP295. Impact of social comparison on DSM in Poland

Poland's energy strategy prioritizes long-term energy security, energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The country's progress toward sustainable development requires in-depth analyses of possible solutions. In our study we investigate consumers' preferences for Demand Side Management programs for electricity usage in Poland. We apply a discrete Choice Experiment framework for various electricity contracts implying the external control of electricity usage. The main objective of the study is to investigate the value of potential disutility of Polish households from the energy management. Additionally, we elaborate on the effect of social comparison between households' electricity use on the acceptance of new electricity contracts. The results suggest that people require substantial compensations to accept the external control of electricity in extreme cases and in weekdays during certain hours. Turning to the social comparison, we were expecting that people with a higher electricity usage per person in a household will require lower compensations, however we observe the opposite result. The respondents who were informed that they use more electricity than an average person in his administrative district seem to feel higher discomfort from the external electricity control. This suggest that the effect of social comparison might be overbalanced by the differences in perceived utility from electricity usage.