(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
Switching behavior in the Italian electricity retail market: Logistic and mixed effect Bayesian estimations of consumer choice
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v129y2019icp339-351.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Switching behavior in the Italian electricity retail market: Logistic and mixed effect Bayesian estimations of consumer choice

Author

Listed:
  • Fontana, Magda
  • Iori, Martina
  • Nava, Consuelo Rubina

Abstract

The paper highlights the importance of both local effects and market structure in determining the switching decision in retail electricity markets, and also introduces a new definition of household as the bundle of features of its members. We apply a Bayesian mixed Logit model to analyze the switching behavior in the Italian electricity retail market. The data set includes social, demographic, geographic and economic information regarding 18,448 households and 37,217 individuals together with their opinions, expectations and choices regarding national services. Results show that heterogeneity in the geographic and social context of choice and in the household composition has a major impact on the significance and on the identification of switching determinants implying that there is no one-size-fits-all policy to encourage switching and that further efforts should be dedicated to the definition of an optimal scale of analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Fontana, Magda & Iori, Martina & Nava, Consuelo Rubina, 2019. "Switching behavior in the Italian electricity retail market: Logistic and mixed effect Bayesian estimations of consumer choice," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 339-351.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:129:y:2019:i:c:p:339-351
    DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.01.060
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421519300746
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.01.060?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monica Giulietti & Michael Waterson & Matthijs Wildenbeest, 2014. "Estimation of Search Frictions in the British Electricity Market," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 555-590, December.
    2. Paul L. Joskow, 2008. "Lessons Learned From Electricity Market Liberalization," The Energy Journal, , vol. 29(2_suppl), pages 9-42, December.
    3. Quaglione, Davide & Cassetta, Ernesto & Crociata, Alessandro & Sarra, Alessandro, 2017. "Exploring additional determinants of energy-saving behaviour: The influence of individuals' participation in cultural activities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 503-511.
    4. Silvia Concettini & Anna Creti, 2013. "Liberalization of electricity retailing in Europe: coming back or going forth?," Working Papers hal-00915924, HAL.
    5. Nils-Henrik M. von der Fehr & Petter Vegard Hansen, 2010. "Electricity Retailing in Norway," The Energy Journal, , vol. 31(1), pages 25-46, January.
    6. Hadfield, Jarrod D., 2010. "MCMC Methods for Multi-Response Generalized Linear Mixed Models: The MCMCglmm R Package," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 33(i02).
    7. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521747387.
    8. Ek, Kristina & Söderholm, Patrik, 2008. "Households' switching behavior between electricity suppliers in Sweden," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 254-261, December.
    9. Brownstone, David & Train, Kenneth, 1998. "Forecasting new product penetration with flexible substitution patterns," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1-2), pages 109-129, November.
    10. Paul Klemperer, 1995. "Competition when Consumers have Switching Costs: An Overview with Applications to Industrial Organization, Macroeconomics, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(4), pages 515-539.
    11. McCulloch, Robert E. & Polson, Nicholas G. & Rossi, Peter E., 2000. "A Bayesian analysis of the multinomial probit model with fully identified parameters," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 173-193, November.
    12. Defeuilley, Christophe, 2009. "Retail competition in electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 377-386, February.
    13. Shin, Kong Joo & Managi, Shunsuke, 2017. "Liberalization of a retail electricity market: Consumer satisfaction and household switching behavior in Japan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 675-685.
    14. Miguel Flores and Catherine Waddams Price, 2018. "The Role of Attitudes and Marketing in Consumer Behaviours in the British Retail Electricity Market," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    15. Wirtz, Jochen & Xiao, Ping & Chiang, Jeongwen & Malhotra, Naresh, 2014. "Contrasting the Drivers of Switching Intent and Switching Behavior in Contractual Service Settings," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 90(4), pages 463-480.
    16. McDaniel, Tanga M. & Groothuis, Peter A., 2012. "Retail competition in electricity supply—Survey results in North Carolina," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 315-321.
    17. Faye Steiner, 2004. "The Market Response to Restructuring: A Behavioral Model," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 59-80, January.
    18. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2015. "Why Do More British Consumers Not Switch Energy Suppliers? The Role of Individual Attitudes," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1525, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    19. Chris M. Wilson & Catherine Waddams Price, 2010. "Do consumers switch to the best supplier?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 62(4), pages 647-668, October.
    20. Felicetta IOVINO, 2015. "Relationship Marketing By Energy Companies," REVISTA DE MANAGEMENT COMPARAT INTERNATIONAL/REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 16(5), pages 558-573, December.
    21. Schleich, Joachim & Faure, Corinne & Gassmann, Xavier, 2017. "Household electricity contract and provider switching in the EU," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S14/2017, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    22. Özbuğday, Fatih Cemil & Öğünlü, Bilal & Alma, Hasan, 2016. "The sustainability of Turkish electricity distributors and last-resort electricity suppliers: What did transition from vertically integrated public monopoly to regulated competition with privatized an," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 50-67.
    23. Daglish, Toby, 2016. "Consumer governance in electricity markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 326-337.
    24. Sauthoff, Saramena & Danne, Michael & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2017. "To switch or not to switch? – Understanding German consumers’ willingness to pay for green electricity tariff attributes," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 260771, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    25. Balcombe, Kelvin & Chalak, Ali & Fraser, Iain, 2009. "Model selection for the mixed logit with Bayesian estimation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 226-237, March.
    26. Daniel McFadden & Kenneth Train, 2000. "Mixed MNL models for discrete response," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(5), pages 447-470.
    27. Train,Kenneth E., 2009. "Discrete Choice Methods with Simulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521747387.
    28. Umberto Monarca & Ernesto Cassetta & Alessandro Sarra & Cesare Pozzi, 2015. "Integrating renewable energy sources into electricity markets: Power system operation, resource adequacy and market design," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(2), pages 149-166.
    29. Gamble, Amelie & Juliusson, E. Asgeir & Gärling, Tommy, 2009. "Consumer attitudes towards switching supplier in three deregulated markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 814-819, October.
    30. Sirin, Selahattin Murat & Gonul, Mustafa Sinan, 2016. "Behavioral aspects of regulation: A discussion on switching and demand response in Turkish electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 591-602.
    31. Dan Rigby & Mike Burton, 2006. "Modeling Disinterest and Dislike: A Bounded Bayesian Mixed Logit Model of the UK Market for GM Food," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 33(4), pages 485-509, April.
    32. Monica Giulietti & Catherine Waddams Price & Michael Waterson, 2005. "Consumer Choice and Competition Policy: a Study of UK Energy Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(506), pages 949-968, October.
    33. David Hensher & William Greene, 2003. "The Mixed Logit model: The state of practice," Transportation, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 133-176, May.
    34. Vesterberg, Mattias, 2018. "The effect of price on electricity contract choice," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 59-70.
    35. Zorn, Christopher, 2005. "A Solution to Separation in Binary Response Models," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 157-170, April.
    36. Yang, Yingkui, 2014. "Understanding household switching behavior in the retail electricity market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 406-414.
    37. Mariano,Roberto & Schuermann,Til & Weeks,Melvyn J. (ed.), 2000. "Simulation-based Inference in Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521591126.
    38. Dyner, Isaac & Larsen, Erik R., 2001. "From planning to strategy in the electricity industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(13), pages 1145-1154, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zou, Baoling & Mishra, Ashok K., 2020. "Appliance usage and choice of energy-efficient appliances: Evidence from rural Chinese households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Ackermann, Klaus & Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2023. "High-speed internet access and energy poverty," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PB).
    3. Simone Di Leo & Marta Chicca & Cinzia Daraio & Andrea Guerrini & Stefano Scarcella, 2022. "A Framework for the Analysis of the Sustainability of the Energy Retail Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-28, June.
    4. Alexandru MAXIM & Teodora ROMAN, 2019. "Evolution And Outlook Of Entities Along The Electricity Sector Value Chain In Romania," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(1), pages 658-665, November.
    5. Heloísa P. Burin & Julio S. M. Siluk & Graciele Rediske & Carmen B. Rosa, 2020. "Determining Factors and Scenarios of Influence on Consumer Migration from the Regulated Market to the Deregulated Electricity Market," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    6. Marco Magnani & Fabio M. Manenti & Paola Valbonesi, 2022. "Measuring Switching Costs in the Italian Residential Electricity Market," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0258, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    7. Cassetta, Ernesto & Nava, Consuelo R. & Zoia, Maria Grazia, 2022. "A three-step procedure to investigate the convergence of electricity and natural gas prices in the European Union," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    8. Amenta, Carlo & Aronica, Martina & Stagnaro, Carlo, 2022. "Is more competition better? Retail electricity prices and switching rates in the European Union," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Di Leo, Simone & Chicca, Marta & Daraio, Cinzia & Guerrini, Andrea & Scarcella, Stefano, 2024. "A robust benchmarking of direct margin in Italy's energy retail markets," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Massimo Dragotto & Marco Magnani & Paola Valbonesi, 2021. "Consumer inertia and firm incumbency in liberalised retail electricity markets: an empirical investigation," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0277, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    11. Erdogan, Murside Rabia & Camgoz, Selin Metin & Karan, Mehmet Baha & Berument, M. Hakan, 2022. "The switching behavior of large-scale electricity consumers in The Turkish electricity retail market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    12. Esplin, Ryan & Best, Rohan & Scranton, Jessica & Chai, Andreas, 2022. "Who pays the loyalty tax? The relationship between socioeconomic status and switching in Australia's retail electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fontana, Magda & Iori, Martina & Nava, Consuelo Rubina, 2017. "Switching Behavior and the Liberalization of the Italian Electricity Retail Market. Logistic and Mixed Effect Bayesian Estimations of Consumer Choice," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201721, University of Turin.
    2. Erdogan, Murside Rabia & Camgoz, Selin Metin & Karan, Mehmet Baha & Berument, M. Hakan, 2022. "The switching behavior of large-scale electricity consumers in The Turkish electricity retail market," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    3. Esplin, Ryan & Best, Rohan & Scranton, Jessica & Chai, Andreas, 2022. "Who pays the loyalty tax? The relationship between socioeconomic status and switching in Australia's retail electricity markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    4. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2017. "Why Consumers Switch Energy Suppliers: The Role of Individual Attitudes," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 6).
    5. Ndebele, Tom & Marsh, Dan & Scarpa, Riccardo, 2019. "Consumer switching in retail electricity markets: Is price all that matters?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 88-103.
    6. Muyi Yang & Yuanying Chi & Kristy Mamaril & Adam Berry & Xunpeng Shi & Liming Zhu, 2020. "Communication-Based Approach for Promoting Energy Consumer Switching: Some Evidence from Ofgem’s Database Trials in the United Kingdom," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-16, October.
    7. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2015. "Why Do More British Consumers Not Switch Energy Suppliers? The Role of Individual Attitudes," Working Papers EPRG 1515, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    8. Schleich, Joachim & Faure, Corinne & Gassmann, Xavier, 2017. "Household electricity contract and provider switching in the EU," Working Papers "Sustainability and Innovation" S14/2017, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI).
    9. Nogata, Daisuke, 2022. "Determinants of household switching between natural gas suppliers: Evidence from Japan," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Itaoka, Kenshi & Chapman, Andrew & Farabi-Asl, Hadi, 2022. "Underpinnings of consumer preferences and participation in Japan's liberalized energy market," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Köksal, Emin & Ardıyok, Şahin, 2018. "Regulatory and market disharmony in the Turkish electricity industry," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 90-98.
    12. Paleti, Rajesh, 2018. "Generalized multinomial probit Model: Accommodating constrained random parameters," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 248-262.
    13. Ricardo A. Daziano & Martin Achtnicht, 2014. "Forecasting Adoption of Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicles Using Bayes Estimates of a Multinomial Probit Model and the GHK Simulator," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(4), pages 671-683, November.
    14. Xiaoping He & David Reiner, 2018. "Consumer Engagement in Energy Markets: The Role of Information and Knowledge," Working Papers EPRG 1835, Energy Policy Research Group, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
    15. Huisman, Hester M. & de Haan, Evert & Mulder, Machiel & Wieringa, Jaap E., 2024. "The combined effect of regulators’ and retailers’ actions to stimulate consumer participation in retail energy markets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    16. Feldhaus, Christoph & Lingens, Jörg & Löschel, Andreas & Zunker, Gerald, 2022. "Encouraging consumer activity through automatic switching of the electricity contract - A field experiment," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    17. Massimo Dragotto & Marco Magnani & Paola Valbonesi, 2021. "Consumer inertia and firm incumbency in liberalised retail electricity markets: an empirical investigation," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0277, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    18. Hussain, Shahid & Seet, Pi-Shen & Ryan, Maria & Iranmanesh, Mohammad & Cripps, Helen & Salam, Abdul, 2022. "Determinants of switching intention in the electricity markets - An integrated structural model approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    19. Frick, Bernd & Barros, Carlos Pestana & Prinz, Joachim, 2010. "Analysing head coach dismissals in the German "Bundesliga" with a mixed logit approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 151-159, January.
    20. Meredith Fowlie, 2010. "Emissions Trading, Electricity Restructuring, and Investment in Pollution Abatement," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 837-869, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Liberalized electricity markets; Switching behavior; Bayesian mixed Logit model; Local market heterogeneity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L43 - Industrial Organization - - Antitrust Issues and Policies - - - Legal Monopolies and Regulation or Deregulation
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • C11 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Bayesian Analysis: General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:enepol:v:129:y:2019:i:c:p:339-351. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.