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The Effect of a Prepayment Meter on Residential Gas Consumption
Author(s) -
Völlink Trijntje,
Meertens Ree
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00670.x
Subject(s) - prepayment of loan , gas consumption , consumption (sociology) , metre , economics , environmental economics , finance , social science , physics , astronomy , sociology
This study examined the effect of prepayment gas meters (households pay for their gas as they use it) as a feedback instrument on gas consumption by households. Furthermore, behavioral determinants of the reduction in gas consumption were studied. Half of the households in the experimental group were issued a notebook allowing them to compare their gas consumption with a self‐set goal. The results revealed that households with a prepayment meter reduced their annual gas consumption by 4.1% compared with the control group; the notebook did not result in additional savings. Furthermore, changes in objective gas consumption were related to self‐reported changes in intention toward reducing consumption.