Who engages in electricity conservation and to what effect after real-world, high-resolution feedback? An empirical analysis of Korean households with smart meters

Engagement with households to fully realize the potential of demand-side solutions has attracted policy attention. The potential of feedback has been understudied, especially regarding who engages more in electricity conservation. Furthermore, most studies have been limited to the Western context, with only a few that explore Asia. This study fills these gaps by investigating changes in household hourly electricity consumption patterns after its members receive high-resolution feedback. After data balancing, we partitioned 63 households into distinct groups using K-means clustering and investigated consumption changes after the provision of high-resolution electricity feedback through a mobile application. The results indicate mixed effectiveness of feedback: some households reduced consumption by about 13 %, while others increased it between 7 % and 20 %. In addition, statistical analysis using survey responses revealed that households with greater awareness of electricity costs and a stronger interest in climate change were more receptive to feedback. Demographic and housing attributes such as age, building type, and floor count also influenced the feedback effect. The findings recommend enhancing awareness of electricity costs and climate change and developing a better understanding of individuals’ challenges with changing conservation behaviors based on their demographic and housing characteristics.