Einflussfaktoren auf die Bereitschaft von Privatkunden, Ökostrom nachzufragen

The present study investigates impacts of attitudinal and perceptual characteristics of residential electricity consumers on their intention to use a green power tariff/supplier in the future. The work rests on a standardized telephone survey of 267 household electricity consumers of a German power supplier. Multivariate Partial Least Squares analysis indicates that, regardless of a person’s level of actual power consumption in the recent past, the intention to use green electricity is significantly higher among customers who have a positive general attitude towards environmental protection measures and who report an endorsing valuation of green power by their close social contacts. In a subsample of participants with a low actual electricity consumption in the year preceding the survey the intention to use green energy is significantly positively affected by the weight an individual attaches to electricity prices in one’s own supplier selection decisions and the person’s belief that one’s present power company takes over social responsibility. In contrast, in the subgroup of respondents with a high actual electricity consumption customers’ intention to use green energy is significantly enhanced by the degree of perceived dissimilarity among power company offerings. The findings are used to derive suggestions for green energy marketing measures of power companies and future energy consumer research.     

Determinants of green electricity adoption among residential customers in Germany

The label ‘green electricity’ is commonly used to refer to power generated from various renewable natural sources (e.g. wind). The present article develops hypotheses on the effects of eight attitudinal and perceptual characteristics of residential electricity consumers on their propensity to adopt a green electricity supplier. The hypotheses are tested empirically with data generated by means of a standardized telephone survey of 267 household electricity customers of a German regional power supplier. Questionnaire answers are augmented with information derived from the supplier's billing system on a participant's actual annual electricity consumption. Measurement and structural relationship models are obtained via Partial Least Squares analysis. Regardless of a person's level of actual power consumption in the recent past, propensity to adopt green electricity is most strongly influenced by general consumer attitudes towards environmental protection issues and social endorsement of green power use by close social contacts. In the subsample of participants with low actual electricity consumption, the propensity to purchase green energy is significantly positively affected by the weight an individual attaches to electricity prices in supplier selection decisions and the person's belief that his current electricity supplier takes over social responsibility. In contrast, in the subsample of respondents with high actual electricity consumption consumer's willingness to adopt green electricity is significantly enhanced by the degree of perceived dissimilarity among power company offerings. The identification of factors influencing the adoption of green electricity offers both practical implications for marketers of utilities and contributes to the academic knowledge base of a service domain characterized by increasing societal importance.     

Determinants of price mark‐up tolerance for green electricity – lessons for environmental marketing strategies from a study of residential electricity customers in Germany

This paper develops hypotheses on the effects of various attitudinal and perceptual variables as well as socio‐demographic characteristics of residential electricity customers on an individual's willingness to pay a mark‐up for electricity generated from renewable energy sources compared with the price due for electricity from conventional sources. The hypotheses are tested with data from a standardized telephone survey of 238 household electricity consumers in Germany. 53.4% of the participants are willing to pay a mark‐up for green electricity. 26.1% report a price tolerance equal to a 5–10% increase in their current electricity bill. Binary logistic and ordinal regression analyses indicate that price tolerance for green electricity is particularly influenced by attitudes (1) towards environmental issues and (2) towards one's current power supplier, (3) perceptions of the evaluation of green energy by an individual's social reference groups, (4) household size and (5) current electricity bill level. The findings are used to derive suggestions for energy related informational activities of public institutions, green marketing strategies of energy companies and future consumer research regarding demand for pro‐environmental goods. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.