Economic Valuation of Green Electricity Sources in Pakistan

Abstract

Green electricity, which comes from renewable sources such as wind, hydro and solar, are well appreciated for their being environment friendly. The advantage of these sources are apparent in part of already natural environment. Moreover, this modern form of electricity also contributes in the poverty alleviation in developing countries, which is one of the sustainable development goals (SDG). The objective of this study is to explore electricity consumers’ willingness to pay for the sustainable energy by employing the contingent valuation method (CVM). The respondents were divided into two broad categories of urban and rural consumers. A total of 400 respondents from urban and 405 respondents from rural areas were selected for this study. The CVM calculated the overall price of green electricity for the improvement of environment through increasing the share of electricity from renewable energy sources. The widely used WTP measure double-bounded dichotomous was utilised to elicit the appropriate value of green electricity from the bid price. The results from the logit regressions showed that the respondents with high income and a higher level of education are willing to pay more for green electricity in both urban and rural models. However, results also revealed that the willingness to pay for green electricity is high in younger people than older people. The mean willingness to pay has found 0.33 cents per kWh in the urban model, while is 0.24 in the rural model. The results provided a guideline to the government to charge an appropriate surcharge from the consumers in order to enhance the share of green electricity in energy mix.