Forskningsartikel2016Vetenskapligt granskadÖppen tillgång
Quality uncertainty and the market for renewable energy: Evidence from German consumers
Rommel J, Sagebiel J, Mullner JR
Sammanfattning
Consumers can choose from a wide range of electricity supply contracts, including green power options. Electricity produced from renewable energy involves information asymmetries. With a sample of more than 2,000 German electricity consumers, we tested the proposition of a "lemon market" for renewable energy in a discrete choice experiment. Specifically, we found that, compared to investor-owned firms, additional willingness-to-pay for renewable energy is approximately double when offered by cooperatives or municipally-owned electricity utilities. Consumers who are experienced with switching suppliers have an additional willingness-to-pay of one Eurocent per kilowatt hour for cooperatives and two Eurocents for public enterprises. The results demonstrate that organizational transformation in dynamically-changing electricity markets is not only driven by political initiatives but also by consumers' choices on the market. Public policy may reduce information asymmetries by promoting government labeling of green energy products. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Nyckelord
Cooperatives; Discrete choice experiment; Energy transition; Germany; Willingness-to-Pay
Publicerad i
Renewable Energy
2016, Volym: 94, sidor: 106-113
UKÄ forskningsämne
Nationalekonomi
Publikationens identifierare
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2016.03.049
Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/95690