Role of Information in Shaping Energy Efficiency Attitude: Case of Indian Urban Households

Abstract

With the recent announcement by the Indian Government to replace energy meters with smart meters, the study attempts to assess if the information provided by the smart meters to residential urban Indian energy consumers nudge them towards being energy efficient. For this purpose, we assess two types of information. First, innovative billing is provided by smart energy meters which provide information regarding consumers’ ‘own’ energy consumption and energy consumption by neighbors. Second, the information is provided through awareness programs by the government.  By surveying 1751 urban Indian households and analyzing the data using two factorial ANOVA, the study finds that consumption-related information feedback through smart devices shall favorably shape the attitude towards energy efficiency. The paper also looks into the impact of various factors that affect the energy efficiency attitude of urban Indian households. The study has implications not only for the government but also for the marketers of smart meters.