Consumers’ Attitudes towards Surcharges on Distributed Renewable Energy Generation and Energy Efficiency Programs
Consumers’ Attitudes towards Surcharges on Distributed Renewable Energy Generation and Energy Efficiency Programs
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DOI：
10.3390/su9081475
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发表时间：
2017-08
期刊：
影响因子：
3.9
通讯作者：
Jing Liang;Y. Qiu;Poornima Padmanabhan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Jing Liang;Y. Qiu;Poornima Padmanabhan
能源效率计划和分布式可再生能源发电的日益普及给公用事业公司带来了巨大的挑战，以收回其巨大的前期成本。有一个激烈的辩论，应该实施什么附加费，以帮助公用事业收回其固定成本，但是，很少有研究集中在消费者对这个话题的态度。这项研究于2015年11月对美国各地约190名住宅消费者进行了调查，调查了他们对额外需求收费和体积能源价格上涨的偏好和态度。我们应用概率单位模型和回归消费者的态度上选择的社会人口和行为变量。结果表明，与租房者相比，房主更有可能更喜欢按需收费。人口和行为因素影响消费者对能源效率计划或太阳能电池板安装节省账单的看法，也影响消费者如何看待公用事业通过增加体积能源价格来弥补收入损失的公平性。在本文中，我们证明了消费者之间存在偏好异质性，政策制定者应该意识到这种偏好异质性，并根据影响消费者偏好的人口统计和行为因素应用政策目标。
Increasing penetration of energy efficiency programs and distributed renewable energy generation has imposed significant challenges for utilities to recoup their large upfront costs. There is a heated debate on what surcharges should be implemented to help the utilities recover their fixed costs; however, very few studies focus on consumers’ attitudes regarding this topic. This study surveys about 190 residential consumers throughout the United States in November 2015, investigating their preferences and attitudes towards extra demand charges and volumetric energy price increases. We apply probit models and regress consumers’ attitudes on selected socio-demographic and behavioral variables. The results indicate the homeowners are more likely to prefer demand charges when compared to renters. The demographic and behavioral factors impact consumers’ perception of bill savings from energy efficiency programs or solar panel installation and also influence how consumers perceive the fairness of utilities recovering revenue losses by increasing volumetric energy price. In this paper, we demonstrate there is preference heterogeneity among consumers and that policy makers should be aware of such preference heterogeneity and apply policy targeting based on the identified demographics and behavioral factors impacting consumer preferences.