Alert the Inert? Switching Costs and Limited Awareness in Retail Electricity Marketst

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dressler, Luisa; Weiergraeber, Stefan
• 署名单位: Solvay SA; Universite Libre de Bruxelles; Indiana University System; Indiana University Bloomington
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20190163
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 74-116
• 关键词: consumer choice; search; PRODUCTS; COMPETITION; price; INFORMATION; BEHAVIOR; demand; choose

摘要

We quantify how switching costs and limited awareness affect con-sumer inertia in liberalized retail electricity markets by developing and estimating a structural demand model using a novel dataset on electricity contract choices in Belgium. Our data allow us to dis-entangle different sources of inertia by using a rich combination of macromoments and micromoments. We find that consumers perceive contracts as differentiated and both limited awareness and switching costs hinder efficient choices. Our counterfactuals reveal substantial welfare gains from alleviating both frictions, in particular switching costs, and that a well-regulated monopoly can generate similar con-sumer surplus as the current deregulated market. (JEL D12, D83, L13, L43, L94, L98)