Does smart metering reduce residential electricity demand?

This paper analyzes the effects of providing feedback on electricity consumption in a field trial with more than 1500 households in Linz, Austria. Participation in the pilot group was random, but households could choose between two feedback types: access to a web portal or written feedback by post. Results from cross section OLS regression suggest that feedback provided to the pilot group results in electricity savings of around 4.5% for the average household. Results from quantile regressions imply that for households in the 30th to the 70th percentile, feedback on electricity consumption is statistically significant and effects are highest in absolute terms and as a share of electricity consumption. For percentiles below or above this range, feedback appears to have no effect. Finally, controlling for a potential endogeneity bias induced by non random participation in the feedback type groups, we find no difference in the effects of feedback provided via the web portal and by post.