Who Is More Willing to Pay for Green Electricity?A Case Study of Anyang City,China

城镇家庭居民绿色电力支付意愿研究--以安阳市为例

Green electricity(GE)is of great importance for effectively combating climate change and global Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs).The willingness-to-pay(WTP)for GE by end users has great influence on its widespread application,especially at the household level.Researchers have analyzed the mechanisms of residents’WTP and predicted how much they could afford for GE.However,most of these studies have focused on developed(affluent)countries and regions,and residents’WTP as well as the corresponding monetary amount of their WTP were not considered together in previous studies.In this study,we try to fill the gap of the inadequate research of residents’WTP in underdeveloped areas through an analysis of the WTP of urban residents in a small Chinese city(Anyang).A total of 274 household-scale samples were collected by face-to-face interviews in December 2019.We found that approximately 60%of respondents gave a positive response to WTP,with an average value of 8.39 yuan per month.Educational attainment,per capita disposable income in the household,the length of residents’time living in urban areas and the rate of neighbors’approval of WTP are all positively correlated with the tendency of the residents’positive response toward WTP.The three factors of per capita disposable income,the rate of neighbors’approval of WTP and the degree of residents’environmental concerns are positively correlated with the amount of residents’WTP.More importantly,we demonstrated the existence of a weak“Herd Effect”in residents’views of WTP.Finally,some suggestions for policymakers are given,such as raising household income through retraining and raising residents’environmental awareness through education and community advertisements.This study also highlights that the widespread application of GE at the household level will be of great assistance to the GE industry overall.Therefore,the rising economic cost of GE should not be shared by the households in the long term.

绿色电力(GE)对人类应对气候变化和全球可持续发展具有重要意义。终端消费者的支付意愿(Willingness-To-Pay,WTP)是决定GE能否在家庭层面广泛推广开来的重要因素。当前,现有关于绿色能源支付意愿和意愿强度的研究主要集中在发达国家和地区,但大多数研究都集中在发达国家(富裕国家)和地区。在以往研究中,居民的绿色能源支付意愿及其支付意愿强度并未放置在一起考虑。在这项研究中,本文试图填补欠发达地区城镇居民绿色能源支付意愿及其强度研究的空白。2019年12月,作者在河南省安阳市通过家庭入户调查共收集了274个家庭样本数据。我们发现,约60%的受访者选择愿意支付绿色能源溢价(8.39元人民币/月)。教育程度、家庭人均可支配收入、受访者在城镇居住时间的长短以及邻居的绿色能源支付意愿决策对受访者做出积极决策(WTP=1)的倾向呈正相关关系。人均可支配收入、邻居的绿色能源支付意愿决策以及受访者对环境的关注程度与受访者的绿色能源支付意愿强度呈正相关。此外,本文还证实了在城镇居民做出绿色能源支付意愿和强度选择决策过程中客观存在着"羊群效应"。最后,本文提出了一系列针对性的政策建议,如通过劳动力技能培训等途径增加家庭收入,以及通过教育和宣传等途径提高居民环境意识等。本文还强调,家庭层面绿色能源的普及应用对绿色能源行业发展有积极的推动作用,从长远来看,发展绿色能源产生的超额经济成本不应由家庭部门来承担。