Consumption feedback and water saving: a field intervention evaluation in the metropolitan area of Milan

Clò, Stefano, Reggiani, Tommaso ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3134-1049 and Ruberto, Sabrina 2024. Consumption feedback and water saving: a field intervention evaluation in the metropolitan area of Milan. Environmental and Resource Economics 87 , pp. 2259-2308. 10.1007/s10640-024-00884-9

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Abstract

This paper investigates whether informative feedback on consumption can nudge water saving. We launched a five-month online information campaign which involved around 1,000 households located in the province of Milan (Italy) with a smart meter. A group of households received monthly reports via email on their per capita daily average water consumption, including a social comparison component. The Intention to Treat (ITT) analysis shows that, compared to a benchmark group, the units exposed to the intervention reduced their per capita water consumption by around 6% (25.8 liters per day or 6.8 gallons). Being able to observe the email opening rate, we find that the ITT effect is mainly driven by complying units. Through an Instrumental Variable approach, we estimated a Local Average Treatment Effect equal to 54.9 liters per day of water saving. A further Regression Discontinuity Design analysis shows that different feedback on consumption class size differentially affected water saving at the margin. We also found that the additional water saving increased with the number of monthly reports, though it did not persist two months after the campaign expired.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Water saving, Nudging, Field intervention, Online information campaign, ITT and LATE
Publisher:	Springer Verlag
ISSN:	0924-6460
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	9 July 2024
Date of Acceptance:	9 May 2024
Last Modified:	02 Sep 2024 13:59
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/170463

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