Impact of rebate program for energy-efficient household appliances on consumer purchasing decisions: The case of electric rice cookers in South Korea

The global energy efficiency market is expanding, and efforts to distribute highly energy-efficient household appliances continue worldwide. It is important to understand consumer attitudes towards household appliances with different energy efficiencies in order to create energy savings effects in the household sector. This study analyses consumer preference for electric rice cookers, and assesses the energy-saving and emission-reduction effects of a rebate program in South Korea. The preference data was collected from choice experiments, and then analysed using a mixed logit model. Estimation results show that there is heterogeneity in consumer preference for all attributes of the rice cooker, and consumers place a high importance on price attribute. The rebate program in the rice cooker market also has a considerable effect on consumer purchase decisions, and results in an annual reduction of 83.88 GWh of electricity consumption and 37,200 tons of CO₂e, when a 10% rebate is provided for 1st grade energy-efficiency products. Several policy implications for the energy-efficiency market and energy-labeling program are suggested, based on the results of the analysis.