How the war in Ukraine and attitudes towards it influenced electricity saving behaviour and electricity consumption?

Abstract

The war in Ukraine triggered a big energy crisis, which particularly escalated in the winter of 2023 throughout all Europe. The crisis was a good opportunity for policymakers to encourage people to save electricity in the household. The aim of this paper is to analyse the changes in electricity saving behaviour and electricity consumption in Lithuania comparing the periods of the month preceding the war in Ukraine in 2022 and the peak of the energy crisis, which occurred in the winter of 2023. Furthermore, the paper examines how the attitudes related to the war influenced these behaviours. The results revealed that since the beginning of the war the level of electricity saving behaviour and electricity consumption increased but both insignificantly. However, the factors contributing to electricity saving behaviour and to actual electricity consumption were revealed to be different. Electricity saving behaviour was mostly determined by concerns about climate change and the war in Ukraine together with attitudes towards the increased energy expenses. As to actual electricity consumption, only concern about the military conflict and sceptical attitudes towards the energy crisis significantly but negatively influenced the levels of electricity consumption. Thus, this paper reveals that the war in Ukraine motivated people to perform electricity saving behaviour only due to the increased price, but the actual electricity consumption was not affected.