PERCEPTION OF PRICE WHEN PRICE INFORMATION IS COSTLY: EVIDENCE FROM ELECTRICITY DEMAND

This dissertation is a study of the consumer's perception of price when price information is costly. Economic theory predicts that a well-informed consumer facing multiple prices responds to marginal price rather than to average price because he equates benefits with costs at the margin. The marginal price postulate, however, may not be true if information regarding marginal price is costly.;Pooled annual data from 1960 to 1980 on the seven Ohio electric utilities are used for estimation. The evidence supports the hypothesis that the residential consumer responds to average price. Further, the expected increase in consumer's surplus, if marginal price were correctly perceived, is calculated at the sample mean and found to be negligible compared to any possible cost of determining marginal price.;Residential consumption of electricity is an example of a good for which it is costly to determine marginal price since the price changes with quantity purchased according to a declining block schedule. If the cost of determining marginal price exceeds its expected benefits, the consumer will base his consumption on simpler information rather than on marginal price. The most obvious candidate is the monthly bill. Since electricity expenditures are greater than they would be if priced at marginal price, perceived price is anticipated to be higher than marginal price. The model includes a price perception variable that depends on the complexity of the rate structure as measured by the ratio of average to marginal price.