Heating homes: Understanding the impact of prices

Studies show that energy prices have an impact on household energy consumption. However, these studies pay little attention to interpreting the findings, and therefore, little is known about how and why households respond to energy prices. This paper provide an example of an interpretation of the impact of energy prices on consumption from a social practice theoretical perspective.
This paper investigates the impact of district heating price level on energy used for space heating and hot water by Danish households living in single-family detached houses. The results show a moderately negative effect of the price level on consumption, which is stronger in newer, presumably more energy-efficient, houses and for higher-income households. However, the effect varies across years, which suggests that the price responsiveness is more a matter of changing everyday practices (short-term response) than being able to afford energy improvements (long-term response).

In a practice theoretical perspective, the results indicate that price differences have an impact on everyday practices, where for example the aspect of energy in everyday practices is perceived as more valuable to practitioners in expensive areas compared to cheaper areas, and that the meaning of price in practices is influenced by the social and material contexts.