Urban-rural disparities in household energy and electricity consumption under the influence of electricity price reform policies

The gap in electricity consumption between urban and rural households under the influence of electricity price reform policies remain largely unexplored. We construct a mechanistic framework for the impact of the electricity price reform policy on the electricity consumption behaviour of urban and rural residents, and evaluates the carbon reduction effect of the policy guidance through data obtained from a large-scale household energy consumption survey from January 2020 to May 2021. The results of the study show the followings: (1) The daily electricity consumption of rural households is larger and more volatile than that of urban households. However, the growth rate of household electricity consumption of urban residents is larger than that of rural residents. (2) The electricity price reform policy mainly influences urban and rural residents' household electricity consumption behaviour by driving demand motives and comfort motives. (3) Under policy intervention, rural residents' household energy consumption will decline at a faster rate, and urban residents' total household energy consumption will decline faster before 2025 and then remain in a stable state. To achieve the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals of the energy system, the low-carbon energy use behaviour of residents can be guided by differentiated policies.