Consumption rises with automated bill payment
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - 12:30
in Mathematics & Economics
The adage "out of sight, out of mind" applies to electricity use, according to new research from Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy. A study of 16 years of billing records from one South Carolina utility found that residential customers using automatic bill payments consumed 4 to 6 percent more power than those who did not. Commercial electricity customers used 8 percent more. And low-income residents who enrolled in budget billing to spread the cost of seasonal peak demand across the year used 7 percent more electricity.