RESIDENTIAL ENERGY DEMAND - ADDITIONAL EMPIRICAL-EVIDENCE BY MINORITYHOUSEHOLD TYPE

In a number of recent studies household level data for specific urban areas or national household level micro-data have been used to estimat e price and income elasticities of energy demand. None of this literat ure, however, provides us with elasticity estimates by minority/majori ty household type. The main focus of this paper is to measure the resp onsiveness of the quantity of electricity and total energy demanded fo r Black, Hispanic, and Majority households to price and income. Price and income elasticities are compared among these groups over the short and long term. A variable elasticity demand model is estimated. The e lasticities are allowed to vary with respect to non-price and income v ariables. The price elasticities of demand vary with heating and cooli ng degree days and the income elasticities with the number of househol d members. Mean estimates were calculated over the respective samples. Findings indicate that demand for electricity is relatively price ine lastic irrespective of household group. However, Blacks are more sensi tive to variations in the short run to price than Hispanic and Majorit y households. In the long run, Blacks are also more sensitive to price changes but the magnitude of the response to price changes in the lon g run relative to the short run is larger for Hispanics and Majority h ouseholds respectively than for Blacks.