Turning on the Lights: A Meta-Analysis of Residential Electricity Demand Elasticities

Abstract

Meta-analysis is used to quantitatively summarize previous studies of residential electricity demand to determine if there are factors that systematically affect estimated elasticities. In this study, price and income elasticities of residential demand for electricity from previous studies are used as the dependent variables, with data characteristics, model structure, and estimation technique as independent variables, using both least square estimation of a semilog model and maximum likelihood estimation of a gamma model. The findings of this research can help better inform public policy makers, regulators, and utilities about the responsiveness of residential electricity consumers to price and income changes.