Determinants of Energy Demand by Private Households, with Due Regard to Lifestyles

The study analyses energy expenditure by private households, drawing on data from the national accounts and a consumer survey. By splitting demand into price and quantitative effects (based on national accounts data) it can be shown that, e.g., liquid fuels are substituted by natural gas. Regarding the demand for liquid fuels, a strongly contrarian development was found between quantitative and price effects, while the quantitative effect was negative for consumer spending on public transport. An analysis of data from the consumer survey documents how regions determine the spending on both transport and home energy. The latter furthermore depends on the supply of pipeline-bound energy sources, whereas transport spending shows a close link between income and cars per household, and between monthly spending on transport and income. The study also used econometric methods to determine differences in preferences by relevant demand factors and investigated how households varying in their characteristics would behave if affluence levels were equalised.