Title: Consumers' choices among alternative electricity programmes in Geneva – an empirical analysis

Authors: Sylvain Weber, Andrea Baranzini, Emmanuel Fragniere

Addresses: Department of Economics, University of Geneva, 40 Bd du Pont- d'Arve, 1211 Geneve 4, Switzerland. ' Geneva School of Business Administration (HEG-Ge), University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES SO), 7 Route de Drize, 1227 Carouge (Geneva), Switzerland. ' Geneva School of Business Administration (HEG-Ge), University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland (HES SO), 7 Route de Drize, 1227 Carouge (Geneva), Switzerland

Abstract: Services Industriels de Geneve (SIG) is a monopoly which delivers natural gas, water and electricity in the Canton of Geneva (Switzerland). A few years ago, SIG offered to Geneva households the possibility to choose among six different types of electricity products. The new electricity products differ particularly because of the origin of their production (natural gas, hydraulic, solar, etc.) and their prices. Through a survey research, we collected information about the households| choices among the different electricity products. By a series of logistic regressions, we assess what determines households| knowledge of the different electricity products which are offered by SIG, as well as the factors explaining their choices.

Keywords: energy prices; consumer choice; electricity programmes; logit models; Geneva; Switzerland; electricity products; consumer knowledge.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGEI.2009.027643

International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2009 Vol.31 No.3/4, pp.295 - 309

Published online: 05 Aug 2009 *

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