Analysing electricity consumption: A study of Indian households

Abstract

Residential electricity consumption is one of the leading areas of research for sustainable development. In India, some studies have examined electricity consumption patterns at state level, district level as well as household level. Our analysis focused on household level consumption pattern of electricity; demographic and economic reasons of affecting these patterns are also considered. Almost Ideal Demand System is employed to study household behavior on eleven categories of good. Income and price elasticities were calculated within the framework of almost ideal demand system to segregate different goods into normal/inferior and substitutes/complements. Logit technique was employed to highlight change in probability of owning different appliances due to different household characteristics. This study found that electricity and firewood are necessity fuels relative to other fuel categories. Equivalence scale was also calculated for income deciles.