Estimation of Residential Demand for Electricity in Beijing Based on Panel Data Models

Employing aggregate panel data at county-level for 16 districts in Beijing for the period from 2000 to 2012,this paper presents an empirical analysis on residential demand for electricity in Beijing by applying the panel unit root and panel co-integration techniques to examines the influence of disposable income per capita, electricity price, population of permanent residents and the number of energy consuming services per hundred households on the residential demand for electricity of each district of Beijing. The empirical results indicate that among 16 districts, both the basic consumption level of residential electricity and the influence of explanatory variable on residential electricity consumption are different. Income and price elasticities of 16 districts are 0.63-1.24 and -0.11- -0.43,respectively.The magnitude of influence of population and energy consuming services are 0.2 - 1.22 and 0.34-1.28, respectively.