Making flexibility acceptable: Experimental evidence on renewable electricity tariff choices in Switzerland

Achieving net-zero emissions targets requires greater use of renewable electricity as well as behavioral adjustments by customers to help manage the variability of renewable energy supply. New forms of electricity tariffs can promote a more affordable and effective use of renewable electricity. This can be achieved by encouraging flexibility provision, for instance by enabling automated shifting of electricity consumption to off-peak periods within agreed time windows. It is unclear, however, under which conditions consumers are willing to adapt their behavior to provide this flexibility, and how participation can be increased. Using a discrete choice experiment with 892 participants, we examined consumers' preferences towards new tariffs featuring high levels of renewables and flexibility provision and tested whether reframing tariff attribute information by means of attribute translations can increase their uptake. We found that individuals exhibit high price sensitivity but also value higher percentages of renewable electricity and locally produced electricity. Reframing information about flexibility provision required by the tariff as gains rather than losses and providing simplified information on the CO₂ emissions associated with renewable electricity tariff options had limited effects on attribute importance. Our research contributes to a better understanding of consumers' decision-making in the context of novel forms of energy tariffs designed to foster the effective integration of renewable energies into a more sustainable and resilient energy system.