Encouraging households to enrol into a voluntary demand response program

Last registered on February 18, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Encouraging households to enrol into a voluntary demand response program
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017881
Initial registration date
February 12, 2026

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
February 18, 2026, 7:44 AM 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
Jesper Akesson
Affiliation
The Behaviouralist
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Jesper Akesson
PI Affiliation
The Behaviouralist
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2026-01-02
End date
2026-05-31
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
demand flexibility, residential demand response, turn-down events
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Countries worldwide are accelerating the transition to renewable energy in pursuit of Net Zero targets. However, variable renewable sources such as solar and wind are inherently inflexible and cannot readily respond to short-term fluctuations in electricity demand. Residential consumers—who account for approximately one quarter of global energy consumption—therefore represent a substantial and underutilised source of demand flexibility. One approach to unlocking this potential is through demand response programmes that incentivise households to shift electricity consumption away from peak periods (e.g., 4:00–7:00 pm on weekdays) in exchange for financial rewards such as bill credits or free electricity hours. This study conducts a large-scale field trial in collaboration with a major UK energy provider. The primary objectives are to evaluate the effectiveness of behaviourally informed email interventions on programme sign-up rates and to estimate the causal impact of programme participation on household electricity consumption during peak and off-peak times.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Akesson, Jesper and Jesper Akesson. 2026. "Encouraging households to enrol into a voluntary demand response program." AEA RCT Registry. February 18. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17881-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This study evaluates whether behaviourally informed email communications increase enrolment in a demand flexibility programme and how programme participation affects household electricity consumption. This programme incentivises residential customers to shift electricity usage away from weekday peak hours (4pm–7pm, Monday–Friday) by offering free electricity hours on Sundays to customers who opt in to a monthly challenge.

Eligible residential customers are randomly assigned to receive either no trial-specific email communication (control) or one of several behaviourally informed email invitations encouraging sign-up. Treatment emails differ in their behavioural framing, while the underlying programme offer and sign-up process remain constant. The primary outcomes are programme sign-up and subsequent electricity consumption during peak and off-peak periods.
Intervention Start Date
2026-01-02
Intervention End Date
2026-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Programme sign-up
Electricity consumption (total, peak, and off-peak)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Programme sign-up is a binary indicator equal to 1 if a customer enrols in the Sunday Saver challenge between 2 January 2026 and 4 January 2026, and 0 otherwise. Data are sourced from EDF administrative enrolment records.

Electricity consumption is measured using half-hourly smart meter data. Consumption is aggregated to construct:

Peak consumption: weekday usage during peak hours (4pm–7pm; with some analyses focusing on 5pm–7pm),

Off-peak consumption: all other hours,

Total consumption: overall electricity usage during the challenge period (5 January–30 January 2026).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Email open rates

Email click-through rates

Bill amount and free electricity hours earned

Customer attrition (churn) during the intervention period
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Email engagement outcomes are measured using EDF email campaign metrics and coded as binary indicators at the customer level. Financial outcomes (bill amounts and free electricity hours earned) are obtained from administrative billing records. Attrition is defined as customer churn during the intervention or analysis period.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study consists of two parallel randomised controlled trials conducted among residential customers in Great Britain. One trial targets low energy users and the other targets high energy users without electric vehicles. Within each trial, eligible customers are randomly assigned to a control group or to one of three behaviourally informed email treatment groups. Outcomes include programme sign-up and electricity consumption following the intervention.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Computer-generated random assignment. Randomisation is conducted separately for each customer cohort.
Randomization Unit
household
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
Low energy users: 100,656 customers High energy users (non-EV): 154,652 customers Total: 255,308 customers
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Low energy users:

Control: 25,164
Treatment 1 (Baseline email): ~20,000
Treatment 2 (Empathetic messaging): ~20,000
Treatment 3 (Community success stories): ~20,000

High energy users:

Control: ~20,000

Treatment 1 (Baseline email): ~20,000
Treatment 2 (Challenge framing): ~20,000
Treatment 3 (Community success stories): ~20,000
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Heartland IRB
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-20
IRB Approval Number
082024-593
Analysis Plan