누진제 완화와 전력사용량 변화: 매칭이중차분법을 활용한 주택용 전기요금 개편 효과 분석

In December 2016, the government implemented changes to the electricity supply contract, including a revision of the progressive electricity rate system for residential use. The progressive rate system was significantly relaxed by revising the existing six-stage 11.7 times progressive structure to a three-stage 3 times structure, which had not been revised since 2004. Before the policy change, there were concerns that if electricity rates were reduced by relaxing the progressive rate system, household burdens would be reduced but ultimately lead to overconsumption of electricity. This study empirically analyzed changes in electricity usage levels. The results from 2016 and 2017 using matching difference-in-differences showed a 12% decrease in electricity usage after the rate system revision. Excluding the summer period when temperature has a significant impact, a 12.9% decrease was confirmed. To compensate for the short period of analysis, we analyzed periods from 2015 to 2018 before and after policy implementation and confirmed that the same trend was observed. This indicates that electricity usage did not increase significantly even if the progressive rate system was relaxed in the 201~400kWh range. As this trend can change in the long term, there is a need for follow-up studies that track the effects of progressive rate system relaxation over a long period of time.