PRICE TRANSPARENCY IN RESIDENTIAL ELECTRICITY: EXPERIMENTS FOR REGULATORY POLICY. ESRI Research Bulletin, 2018/01

For markets to be efficient and competitive, consumers need to be able to identify which products are good value. PRICE Lab2 conducted two laboratory experiments in collaboration with the Commission for Energy Regulation (now the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU). The first tested whether consumers find it hard to choose among energy providers when prices are expressed as discounts from a standard unit rate, which can differ between providers. The second pre-tested a new regulation designed to make it easier for consumers to compare prices. This is the first time a regulation has been experimentally pre-tested like this in Ireland. The regulation, which requires providers to display an “Estimated Annual Bill” (EAB), is now in place