Description
Abstract: Demand response is an increasingly necessary part of electricity provision. In countries like Finland, wind energy is expected to be the dominant energy source by 2030. Tools such as market incentives and new electricity tariff models could encourage energy end-users to participate in demand response. However, this starkly contrasts a long-held assumption in the Finnish electricity markets. The retail electricity industry has not seen domestic customers as agile and questioned consumers’ willingness to adopt electricity contracts based on dynamic pricing [1]. Finnish end-users have been considered comfort seekers, and dynamic pricing suitable mainly for a minority of technologically orientated customers. Hence, the retail market has been dominated by flat-priced electricity contracts. The energy crisis in 2022 suddenly changed this situation. Contrary to all expectations, dynamic pricing was heavily promoted. While in May 2021, all types of contracts were widely available, in October 2022, one-third of companies had completely removed flat contract offers from their portfolio. Dynamic pricing, having been a curious option for a courageous minority of consumers, suddenly became the default, and all kinds of regular energy end-users were taughtconsumption monitoring, market price formation, and load-shifting. This paper uses a time series of retail product portfolios and price data collected in May 2021,
May 2022, October 2022 and May 2023, and three rounds of interviews with company representatives before and during the energy crisis. We study 1) the changes in understandings that retailers hold about the energy end-users and 2) the development of the business practices along these changes. We discuss the findings through their implications for day-to-day electricity use practices and sustainable consumption among regular Finnish households and on the future
of electricity retail. [1] Numminen, Sini, Salvatore Ruggiero, and Mikko Jalas. “Locked in Flat Tariffs? An Analysis of Electricity Retailers’ Dynamic Price Offerings and Attitudes to Consumer Engagement in Demand Response.” Applied Energy 326 (November 15, 2022): 120002. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120002.
| Period | 8 Jul 2023 |
|---|---|
| Event title | SCORAI-ERSCP-WUR Conference: Transforming consumption-production systems toward just and sustainable futures |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Wageningen, NetherlandsShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |