The Direct Rebound Effect of Electricity Energy Services in Spanish Households: Evidence from Error Correction Model and System GMM estimates

• Martín Bordón ^[1] ; Jaume Freire-González ^[1] ; Emilio Padilla ^[2]
  1. [1] Univ. Autonoma de Barcelona. Department of Applied Economics
  2. [2] ENT Foundation (Vilanova i la Geltrú)
• Localización: Working papers (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Economia Aplicada), Nº. 2, 2020
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • We review the empirical literature concerning the magnitude of the direct rebound effect in households, focusing on econometric studies, and analyze the theoretical and methodological aspects for the estimation of the direct rebound effect. We then estimate the magnitude of the direct rebound effect of households’ electricity consumption in Spain. Using panel data from 2007 to 2016 for all the Spanish provinces, we estimate the short- and long-run direct rebound effects. In order to deal with cointegration of variables and to solve potential spurious relationships between them, we use a two-step Error Correction Model. We also estimate the dynamic model through a GMM system. The results indicate a direct rebound effect between 26% and 35% in the short-run and around 36% in the long-run. These findings suggest that, in Spain, energy efficiency policies with the aim of saving electricity consumption are significantly less effective without complementary measures to tackle the direct rebound effect.

    Moreover, one can expect a greater electricity savings response from households to price changes than to income or weather changes. We find a significant influence of other energy sources that appear to be complementary to electricity consumption according to our estimation.