Internet usage and household electricity consumption

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of the popularization and usage of the Internet on household electricity consumption in China, as well as the mediating role of sleep duration. By employing data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and employing the basic ordinary least squares (OLS) model, the mediation model, and the instrumental variable (IV) approach, we derive the following conclusions. The results from the basic OLS regression indicate a positive relationship between internet usage and household electricity expenditure, implying that households that use the Internet tend to have higher electricity bills. Subsequently, by introducing sleep duration as a mediating variable, we find that internet usage leads to shorter sleep duration, indirectly resulting in increased household electricity costs. To address potential endogeneity concerns, we employ the instrumental variable approach to correct for the impact of internet usage on household electricity consumption. In addition, through heterogeneity analysis, we found that internet usage impacts households with different characteristics.