Study of retail electricity consumers’ response and perception regarding electricity consumption

Abstract

The price of retail electricity is restricted by regulations and have not increased at a same pace with the ever-growing demand of electricity. However, there exists a considerable amount of consumer surplus that can be harnessed by the electricity industry to improve the quality of service. In this paper we make an attempt to understand some characteristics of household electricity consumer demand. We performed an empirical, descriptive research and used inductive reasoning. Quantitative and qualitative primary data was collected through a questionnaire administered in Microsoft Excel format from 173 respondents. We propose a suitable present and future market segmentation of the retail electricity market based on several demographic and perceptual parameters respectively. We also analyze the demand price relationships and the price elasticities of demand for four appliances. We find that the willingness-to-pay is nearly five times the present average price of electricity. We also present perceptual distances for the future market related to adoption of dynamic prices and renewable energy by consumers.