The effect of pre-paid vs post-paid subsidies on electric heating

Last registered on November 15, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The effect of pre-paid vs post-paid subsidies on electric heating
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014773
Initial registration date
November 07, 2024

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
November 15, 2024, 1:36 PM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Peiyao Shen
Affiliation
University of Queensland
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Lana Friesen
PI Affiliation
School of Economics, University of Queensland
PI Name
Andrea La Nauze
PI Affiliation
Deakin University
PI Name
Yvonne Jie Chen
PI Affiliation
ShanghaiTech University

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-11-10
End date
2025-04-30
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Existing literature shows that pre-paid metering can reduce electricity consumption by increasing the salience of marginal prices and therefore be welfare improving (Jack & Smith, 2020). Pre-paid metering is also the default charging method for electricity consumption in many developing areas including our study area, which may contribute to their low electric heating consumption in winter. This project builds on the understanding of the impacts of pre-paid metering by considering the design of subsidies when governments wish to increase electric heating consumption, for example, to increase access to homes heated to health standards. In this study, we plan to implement a field experiment linked to administrative data to explore whether low electric heating demand is due to credit constraints, income constraints, or simply a lack of knowledge and experience of electric heating and its health benefits.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chen, Yvonne Jie et al. 2024. "The effect of pre-paid vs post-paid subsidies on electric heating." AEA RCT Registry. November 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14773-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This registration is for a pilot field study. In this pilot study, villages will be randomly assigned to “treatment 1”, “treatment 2” or “control”. Low-income households will be identified by the government and local village heads. In treatment 1, households will receive a pre-paid subsidy from our research group; in treatment 2, households will receive a post-paid subsidy from our research group.
Intervention Start Date
2024-11-11
Intervention End Date
2025-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
electricity consumption, electricity consumption pertaining to heating (i.e. using October kWh consumption as a household's baseline consumption, heating consumption= monthly kWh consumption - Oct kWh consumption), indoor temperature
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
In the study area, all households must pre-pay for their electricity consumption. To support poor households with the cost of electric heating, the local government provides them with a winter heating subsidy, paid after the winter heating season. Control participants in the study will continue to receive this subsidy (i.e. no intervention). “Treatment 1” villagers will receive an additional maximum of 100 CNY monthly subsidies for December, January and February. The subsidy will be pre-paid directly onto their electricity account. “Treatment 2” villagers will receive the same subsidy for December, January and February but post-paid directly onto their electricity account at the end of winter. In addition, we also use villagers who do not participate and have never been contacted by our research team as a pure control group. To gauge the effect of subsidies on the actual heating, we encourage all participants in treatment 1, treatment 2, and the control group to inform us of their indoor temperature (measured through a provided thermometer) via incentivised text messages (1.5 CNY per message paid on their phone) 18:00-22:00 on Mondays and Fridays of winter.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Stratification was employed using the following two variables: the average subsidy for the previous winter received by the households, and the percentage of infants at the village level.
Randomization Unit
villages
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
67 villages
Sample size: planned number of observations
633 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
4 villages (39 households) control, 4 villages (37 households) treatment 1, and 4 villages (36 households) treatment 2
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Queensland BEL LNR
IRB Approval Date
2024-10-31
IRB Approval Number
2024/HE002090
Analysis Plan