General Introduction 1

Contents

Acknowledgements v

General Introduction 1

1 Support schemes for renewable electricity 9

1.1 Introduction . . . . 9

1.2 The model: set-up and notation . . . . 12

1.3 Feed-in tariff and floating premium . . . . 15

1.4 Fixed premium . . . . 17

1.5 Analyzing the strategic effects under the fixed premium . . . . 22

1.5.1 The fixed premium: increasing market power or competition? . . . . . 22

1.5.2 Which level for the fixed premium? . . . . 24

1.5.3 Winners and losers of the policy change . . . . 25

1.6 Discussion of results . . . . 25

1.7 Conclusions . . . . 27

Appendix . . . . 28

2 Switching costs vs. limited awareness in retail electricity markets 37 2.1 Introduction . . . . 37

2.2 Institutional Background . . . . 40

2.3 Data . . . . 42

2.4 Reduced-form evidence . . . . 48

2.5 Structural model . . . . 51

2.6 Identification Strategy . . . . 54

2.7 Estimation . . . . 57

2.8 Results . . . . 60

2.8.1 Structural estimation results . . . . 60

2.8.2 Counterfactuals . . . . 62

2.9 Conclusion . . . . 64

Appendix . . . . 66

3 The rent impact of disclosing energy performance certificates 69 3.1 Introduction . . . . 69

3.2 Literature review . . . . 72

3.3 Data . . . . 74

3.4 Methodology and identification strategy . . . . 77

3.4.1 Energy efficiency effect: dealing with selection bias . . . . 77

3.4.2 Identification . . . . 78

3.4.3 Information effect: dealing with endogeneity . . . . 79

3.4.4 Limitations of the methodology . . . . 80

3.5 Results . . . . 81

3.5.1 Energy efficiency effect . . . . 81

3.5.2 Information effect . . . . 86

3.6 The rent premium in context . . . . 87

3.7 Conclusions and policy recommendation . . . . 89

Appendix . . . . 91

Bibliography 99