The intermittency of energy billing may give rise to different biases or misperceptions, such that household energy demand deviates from its true optimum. This study investigates such deviations by linking variation in present-biased preferences and energy price beliefs to variation in energy consumed. Using both a survey and incentivized experiments, we gather measures of present bias as well as price beliefs, and observe participants’ true electricity consumption. Our main finding is that participants with present bias are predicted to consume on average 9 to 10 percent more electricity than participants with time-consistent discounting. Our results further suggest that neither the true marginal electricity price nor the perceived marginal electricity price can predict electricity consumption. These findings raise doubt as to the effectiveness of classic price-based policies in reducing household energy consumption.

能源计费的间歇性可能会引起不同的偏见或误解，从而使家庭能源需求偏离其真正的最佳需求。本研究通过将偏向当前的偏好和能源价格信念的变化与能源消耗的变化联系起来来调查这种偏差。通过调查和激励实验，我们收集了当前偏差和价格信念的衡量标准，并观察了参与者的真实用电量。我们的主要发现是，与时间一致折扣的参与者相比，具有当前偏见的参与者预计平均多消耗 9% 到 10% 的电力。我们的结果进一步表明，真实边际电价和感知边际电价都不能预测电力消耗。