[{"title":"Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis","date_created":"2025-11-28T12:07:25Z","author":[{"first_name":"Vicky","last_name":"Tinnefeld","full_name":"Tinnefeld, Vicky"},{"first_name":"Martin","orcid":"0000-0002-0653-7680","last_name":"Kesternich","id":"98922","full_name":"Kesternich, Martin"},{"first_name":"Madeline","last_name":"Werthschulte","full_name":"Werthschulte, Madeline"}],"publisher":"ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60","date_updated":"2025-12-01T10:21:20Z","jel":["C93","D04","D91","Q41"],"citation":{"apa":"Tinnefeld, V., Kesternich, M., &#38; Werthschulte, M. (2025). <i>Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis</i>. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60.","short":"V. Tinnefeld, M. Kesternich, M. Werthschulte, Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis, ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60, 2025.","bibtex":"@book{Tinnefeld_Kesternich_Werthschulte_2025, title={Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis}, publisher={ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60}, author={Tinnefeld, Vicky and Kesternich, Martin and Werthschulte, Madeline}, year={2025} }","mla":"Tinnefeld, Vicky, et al. <i>Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis</i>. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60, 2025.","ama":"Tinnefeld V, Kesternich M, Werthschulte M. <i>Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis</i>. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60; 2025.","ieee":"V. Tinnefeld, M. Kesternich, and M. Werthschulte, <i>Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis</i>. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60, 2025.","chicago":"Tinnefeld, Vicky, Martin Kesternich, and Madeline Werthschulte. <i>Do Energy-Saving Nudges Deliver During High-Price Periods? Field Experimental Evidence From the European Energy Crisis</i>. ZEW Discussion Paper No. 25-60, 2025."},"year":"2025","has_accepted_license":"1","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"file_date_updated":"2025-11-28T12:04:11Z","ddc":["330"],"keyword":["Residential energy savings","energy crisis","behavioral interventions","survey data","field experiment"],"user_id":"98922","_id":"62697","file":[{"content_type":"application/pdf","success":1,"relation":"main_file","date_updated":"2025-11-28T12:04:11Z","date_created":"2025-11-28T12:04:11Z","creator":"mkestern","file_size":2165853,"access_level":"closed","file_id":"62698","file_name":"dp25060.pdf"}],"status":"public","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Urged by the European Energy Crisis and the threatening consequences of severe\r\nnatural gas shortages, energy providers launched gas-saving initiatives incor-\r\nporating financial incentives to reduce residential natural gas consumption. In\r\ncollaboration with one of Germany’s largest energy providers, we conducted\r\na natural field experiment (N = 2,598) to evaluate the effectiveness of a\r\nbehaviorally-guided co-design of such a gas-saving initiative by implementing\r\ntwo established behavioral instruments – reminders of gas saving intentions and\r\ndescriptive norm feedback. Our findings show limited effectiveness of the behav-\r\nioral instruments during the high-price period. The feedback risks a “boomerang\r\neffect” among households with above-average initial savings, who reduce their\r\nconservation efforts in response. The reminder does not significantly enhance sav-\r\nings in our main specifications, yet, realizes 1 percentage point savings in alternate\r\nmodels refining for outliers. Potential mechanisms include a significant intention-\r\naction gap and misperceived effectiveness of energy-saving actions, which are not\r\nalleviated by the reminder."}],"type":"working_paper"}]