Small Commercial And Industrial Electricity Consumption In Las Cruces, New Mexico

Research examining small commercial and industrial electricity usage patterns have historically received less attention than residential electricity consumption patterns. This study examines electricity as an input to commercial and industrial production in Las Cruces, New Mexico using annual frequency data from 1978 to 2018. Those data examined include labor, per capita personal income, price measures for electricity and natural gas, and weather variables. The long-run and short-run elasticities of the data are then estimated using an autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL). In the long run, CIS customers in Las Cruces respond to natural gas a complimentary good, and the derived-demand curve is found to be upward sloping. Real per capita income is also found to have a positive impact in the long-run, while weather impacts are found to be ambiguous in the long-run. In the short-run, CIS customers in Las Cruces treat natural gas a substitute, the derived-demand curve is found to be downward sloping, and weather extremes are found to be positive correlated with electricity usage