Toward residential flexibility—Consumer willingness to enroll household loads in demand response

Abstract

Consumers of the future play an important role in the energy system by leveraging their household loads to be flexible through demand response (DR) during a high network stress. This study aims to identify the consumers’ Willingness To Enroll (WTE) their different household loads in DR considering consumer preferences for both financial gains and emission reductions. To study this, a questionnaire survey was administered to 1,468 Finnish residential consumers, and several statistical methodologies were used to draw key findings regarding consumer socioeconomic and demographic characteristics on their WTE their household loads in DR. The key results of the study are: First, among the household loads, heating and electric appliances have a higher consumers’ willingness to enroll than EVs. Second, within the incentives, consumers preferred financial incentives to environmental incentives. Third, the expected compensations for consumers were 100 €/annum for appliances and EVs and 200 €/annum for heating. The results of this study have clear practical implications for energy flexibility in the residential sector. Further, the paper discusses the corresponding policy implications that are essential for a widespread DR adoption in the future.