The effect of subsidies, climate, and technology on residential electricity consumption in Qatar

IF 4.4 3区经济学 Q3 ENERGY & FUELS

Utilities Policy Pub Date : 2025-07-01 DOI:10.1016/j.jup.2025.101998

Esmat Zaidan , Sa'd Shannak , Logan Cochrane

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Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between governmental subsidies, temperature changes, technological advancements, and residential electricity consumption in Qatar by using empirical analysis. This research aims to explore a topic that is rarely explored in current literature. It uses stochastic frontier analysis to measure energy efficiency and identify factors that cause inefficiencies in electricity consumption. The analysis considers the extent to which government subsidies affect residential electricity consumption, how changes in temperature influence electricity consumption in an economy sensitive to climate change, and how technology affects this consumption. The findings indicate that subsidy elasticity of electricity demand is positive, with a 1 % increase in subsidies leading to a 1.01 % rise in electricity consumption for flats. Reflecting Qatar's climate influence, temperature also correlates positively with usage. Technology has a minimal impact on demand, suggesting that improvements in energy efficiency can help reduce consumption. Our research highlights important policy implications, recommending changes to the current subsidy structure and efforts to improve energy efficiency in Qatar.

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补贴、气候和技术对卡塔尔居民用电量的影响

本文采用实证分析的方法，考察了卡塔尔政府补贴、温度变化、技术进步和居民用电量之间的关系。本研究旨在探讨一个目前文献中很少探讨的话题。它使用随机前沿分析来衡量能源效率，并确定导致电力消耗效率低下的因素。该分析考虑了政府补贴对居民用电量的影响程度，气温变化如何影响对气候变化敏感的经济体的用电量，以及技术如何影响这种消费。研究结果表明，电力需求的补贴弹性为正，补贴增加1%导致公寓用电量增加1.01%。温度也与使用量呈正相关，反映了卡塔尔的气候影响。技术对需求的影响微乎其微，这表明提高能源效率有助于减少消耗。我们的研究强调了重要的政策含义，建议改变当前的补贴结构，努力提高卡塔尔的能源效率。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Utilities Policy ENERGY & FUELS-ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

CiteScore

6.80

自引率

10.00%

发文量

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Utilities Policy is deliberately international, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral. Articles address utility trends and issues in both developed and developing economies. Authors and reviewers come from various disciplines, including economics, political science, sociology, law, finance, accounting, management, and engineering. Areas of focus include the utility and network industries providing essential electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater, solid waste, communications, broadband, postal, and public transportation services. Utilities Policy invites submissions that apply various quantitative and qualitative methods. Contributions are welcome from both established and emerging scholars as well as accomplished practitioners. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and applied works are encouraged. Submissions to the journal should have a clear focus on governance, performance, and/or analysis of public utilities with an aim toward informing the policymaking process and providing recommendations as appropriate. Relevant topics and issues include but are not limited to industry structures and ownership, market design and dynamics, economic development, resource planning, system modeling, accounting and finance, infrastructure investment, supply and demand efficiency, strategic management and productivity, network operations and integration, supply chains, adaptation and flexibility, service-quality standards, benchmarking and metrics, benefit-cost analysis, behavior and incentives, pricing and demand response, economic and environmental regulation, regulatory performance and impact, restructuring and deregulation, and policy institutions.