New analysis: premium is unlikely to help save gas

DIn order for Germany’s energy supply to last until next winter, it is still important that households save energy. But what are the right incentives to encourage individual customers to reduce their consumption? The researchers studied this in an experiment with 4,400 households heated by natural gas in Germany. Private households were much less responsive to savings bonuses than expected. According to this, 11 percent were motivated by the bonus to save more natural gas.

The Mannheim-based economist Andreas Gerster concludes that financial incentives only work up to a certain point. “Hardly more people could be motivated by a higher premium,” says Ariadne, co-author of the Copernicus Project study, which has not yet been published and whose results are available to FAZ in advance.