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Modelling the Residential Demand for Electricity in New England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2017

Trevor Young  and
Thomas H. Stevens
Trevor Young
Affiliation:
Food and Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Thomas H. Stevens
Affiliation:
Food and Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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Abstract

Accurate forecasts of energy demand are required for public policy formation, but estimation of the residential demand for electricity presents a number of conceptual and statistical problems. This paper focuses on two interrelated issues in electricity demand analysis: model specification with respect to the price variable and the level of data aggregation. From an empirical study of demand in New England, our principal conclusions are: (a) price elasticities, estimated using state level data, differ from those at the utility level; (b) at the state level of aggregation, alternative model specifications of demand give markedly different results; (c) there appears to be significant differences between the New England states in the demand for electricity; and (d) it was not possible to discern whether consumers respond to average price or marginal price.

Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , Spring 1983 , pp. 75 - 82
Copyright
Copyright © Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

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