How “Informing Consumers” Impacts Willingness to Pay for Renewable Energy Electricity in China

Boqiang Lin, Runqing Zhu, Yufang Chen

OAI: oai:igi-global.com:309378 • DOI: 10.4018/JGIM.309378

This paper finds that informed residents are more willing to support renewable energy development. Respondents with a higher level of participation in renewable energy planning, satisfaction with the implementation of renewable energy policies, as well as recognition of the high cost of renewable energy are more willing to use renewable energy. They are willing to pay more for renewable energy power, which means that respondents with more green information (renewable energy) are willing to pay more for renewable energy electricity. Although respondents are more willing to use voluntary payment mechanisms, they are more likely to pay more for renewable energy power under the mandatory payment mechanism. There is a large gap between the actual green power purchase behavior of Chinese residents and the expected WTP, mainly because there are many problems in the voluntary subscription mechanism for green power certificates. Finally, this paper provides targeted policy recommendations for policymakers.