On Friday, October 3rd, the Irving Institute launched its 2025–2026 Faculty Seminar Series, inviting faculty and researchers from across campus to share their current work on energy and society. These monthly gatherings aim to foster community and spark interdisciplinary collaborations as colleagues discover connections between their research interests.
During the kickoff Faculty Seminar, we heard from two economists: Tuck's Professor Praveen Kopalle, who presented recent findings on messaging strategies and energy pricing's influence on consumer behavior, and Manpreet Singh, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Irving Institute, who studied India's auction practices to inform strategies that could improve economic efficiencies amid the country's growing energy transition.
Insights into Consumer Behavior and Pricing Strategies for Residential Energy Use
Praveen Kopalle, Professor of Management and Chair of Marketing, Tuck School of Business (Photo by Andrila Hait Chakrabarti)
Professor Kopalle shared research on residential electricity conservation, based on a two-year field experiment in Austin, Texas. The study examined how different messaging strategies influence energy use. The team installed appliance-level meters in households and tested five treatments:
- Providing a portal for monitoring energy use
- Sending text alerts about critical peak pricing
- Delivering action-oriented text messages advising against appliance use during peak hours
- Sending text alerts that reflected a 5x peak pricing rate (though participants didn't actually pay this rate)
- Installing NEST thermostats that learn from consumer behavior
The results showed that households receiving critical peak price notifications exhibited the most significant behavioral change, despite not being charged the higher price. This indicates that awareness of peak pricing can effectively promote conservation. This finding aligns with existing research showing that the medial prefrontal cortex of the brain activates when viewing prices, highlighting the link between price perception and decision-making. When individuals see a price change, they are more likely to take action.
In a second experiment conducted during winter months—when wind energy exceeds demand in off-peak hours—prices were reduced by 50%. Consumers shifted their energy loads to these off-peak hours, resulting in a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Additionally, the team conducted a decarbonization simulation and consumer survey. The survey revealed that consumers are open to allowing utilities to automatically control devices if they retain a manual override option. However, they are hesitant to invest in fully integrated automated systems but are willing to participate if manual control remains possible. This research highlights how pricing strategies and consumer behavior can help balance supply and demand, thereby enhancing economic and energy efficiencies.
Evaluating Auction Strategies to Optimize India's Solar Energy Investments
India is rapidly expanding its solar energy capacity, largely fueled by government-run auctions where companies compete for contracts to build solar farms. These auctions are a crucial tool for promoting clean energy and driving down electricity costs. But are they as effective as they could be? Economist Manpreet Singh has been digging into this question, examining whether the current auction system is truly delivering the best value for India's investment.
The heart of the issue lies in how these auctions are designed. Currently, India uses a system, which can be modelled as a "clock auction," where the price starts high and gradually drops. Companies drop out when the price gets too low for them, and the last ones standing win the contracts. However, his work reveals that the auction is neither optimizing the price for the procuring agency, nor finding the least cost firms in the market, which ultimately increases the overall cost of solar energy production.
Singh suggests a simple but potentially powerful change: switching to a "sealed bid" system once a key turning point in the auction is reached. In a sealed bid, companies submit their best prices privately, ensuring that the most competitive offer wins. Singh's research suggests this change could significantly improve the efficiency of India's solar auctions, saving the government money. By fine-tuning its auction process, India can ensure it's getting the most solar power for its investment.
Watch a recording of the seminar