Impact of monetary incentives on the adoption of direct load control electricity tariffs by residential consumers

Last registered on June 28, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Impact of monetary incentives on the adoption of direct load control electricity tariffs by residential consumers
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011691
Initial registration date
June 28, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 28, 2023, 5:11 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Switzerland
Region
Ticino

Primary Investigator

Name
Davide Cerruti
Affiliation
ETH Zürich
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Massimo Filippini
PI Affiliation
ETH Zürich
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PI Name
Jonas Savelsberg
PI Affiliation
ETH Zürich
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PI Name
Flora Marchioro
PI Affiliation
Università della Svizzera Italiana
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-04-04
End date
2023-12-31
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
direct load control, electricity tariffs
JEL code(s)
Q41, L94
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In this RCT we propose different direct load control (DLC) electricity tariffs to a sample of residential customers. The goal is to measure how different monetary incentives and different ways of presenting tariff information influence the adoption of DLC tariffs.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Cerruti, Davide et al. 2023. "Impact of monetary incentives on the adoption of direct load control electricity tariffs by residential consumers." AEA RCT Registry. June 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11691-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The goal of the study is to measure how different DLC tariff formats affect the interest and the adoption of the tariff from customers.
Intervention Start Date
2023-04-17
Intervention End Date
2023-06-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1) Whether customers contacted the Utility about the DLC tariff following receipt of the brochure (either by phone or email)
2) Whether customers adopted the DLC tariff following receipt of the brochure
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We send a brochure to eligible customers of an electric utility. The brochure is an advertising of an actual DLC tariff proposal. The brochure comes in three different variations: a brochure detailing a standard offer; a brochure detailing a standard offer with a link to an explanatory video; a brochure detailing a special offer with a monetary incentive.
Experimental Design Details
The sample of eligible customers of the Utility are those owning a private electric vehicle charging station, a heat pump, or both.
The randomized control trial (RCT) includes a control group and two treatment groups of equal size, randomly assigned among the list of eligible customers:
1. The control group will receive via mail a brochure describing the tariff according to the current conditions (as outlined in the previous paragraph).
2. The first treatment group will receive via mail a brochure describing the tariff according to the current conditions (as outlined in the previous paragraph), as well as a QR code linked to a specific webpage belonging to the Utility website but detached to the rest of the website The website includes three videos explaining more in depth the functioning, costs and benefits of the tariff. Consequently, individuals in this group receive an information treatment.
3. The second treatment group will receive via mail a brochure describing the tariff with special conditions concerning the installation of the relay, i.e. the installation costs are borne by the Utility. Consequently, individuals in this group receive a monetary incentive in the form of a discount on membership upfront costs.

As the tariff constitutes an actual proposal of the Utility to its clients, individuals within the experiment who contact back the Utility via e-mail and eventually decide to subscribe to the tariff will be charged accordingly. The company will later provide researchers with data on the two outcome variables, i.e. whether people contacted the Utility via e-mail to know more about tariff subscription, and whether people eventually subscribed to the tariff. To preserve the integrity of the study and avoid clients’ confusion, ETH is never mentioned on the Utility brochures. The brochure specifies that the offer is available until the 30th of June 2023. The brochure comes with a letter from the Utility briefly explaining the tariff.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer on the list of eligible Utility customers.
Randomization Unit
The randomization was performed at the customer level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
No clusters used
Sample size: planned number of observations
1500 customers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 control; 500 video treatment; 500 monetary treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Ethics Commission ETH Zürich
IRB Approval Date
2023-04-04
IRB Approval Number
EK 2022-N-85
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials