The Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) will prepare advice concerning the design of energy price fact sheets. Fact sheets aim to help consumers compare energy plans. Behaviourally informed designs may also improve consumer comprehension, clarity, and ease of decision making with regard to household energy choices. This is a mixed methods study, constituted of a framed field experiment and qualitative focus groups.
External Link(s)
Citation
Houlihan, Shea. 2018. "Simplifying energy fact sheets to improve consumer understanding." AEA RCT Registry. November 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2598-3.0.
Proportion of respondents favouring each design; likelihood of respondents to change energy plans on the basis of information presented by a design; change in respondent confidence after exposure to a design
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Experimental Design
Framed field experiment; focus groups
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Framed field experiment subjects will be randomized by computer algorithm
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No
Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,500 total respondents; 3 focus groups
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
750 per arm of framed field experiment; 5-7 individuals in each focus group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)