DOI: 10.3886/icpsr07880
title: Electric Utility Rate Demonstration Project: Wisconsin, 1976-1980
title: Archival Version

description: One in a series of studies on customer response to utility
regulatory pricing in early 1975, the Wisconsin demonstration project
was carried out by the Federal Energy Administration (FEA) and the
Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) from 1976 to 1980. The study
was originally called the Wisconsin Electricity Consumer Survey and
was an experiment to generate and analyze data on the effects of
peak-load pricing on residential electric consumption. The
experimental design featured nine distinct peak load pricing
treatments, a time of day demand treatment, a seasonal flat-rate
treatment, and a control group. Six sets of data resulted from the
demonstration: questionnaire surveys of the customers (both control
and experimental), summary demographic information, utility load
reports, weather data, and customer usage records. All six sets
(representing the five main parts of the Demonstration Project series)
are available in this data collection. Part 1 contains the customer
survey response data from 400 control participants, and Part 2
contains the customer survey response data from 399 experimental
participants. Data for both parts were gathered in the second only of
three survey waves, which was administered in March 1979. Parts 4-6
each contain 28 days of data, with Parts 4 and 6 including hourly
data. Parts 4-6 also contain identifying information that links their
data to the pertinent customer/participant's demographic data in Part
3.
description: A stratified random probability sample was drawn from nine
 consumption strata. The sampling units consisted of single-unit
 residential customers and the sampling frame was built from billing
files excluding low-use customers.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Part 1A: Questionnaire Survey, Control
DS2: Part 1B: Questionnaire Survey, Experimental
DS3: Part 2 -- Demographic Data File
DS4: Part 3 -- Utility Load Data Group
DS5: Part 4 -- Weather Data Group
DS6: Part 5 -- Usage Data Group
description: Residential customers of the Wisconsin Public Service
corporation (PSC) in 19 counties in northeastern Wisconsin,
encompassing Green Bay, with an area of 10,000 square miles.
description: 1) The start and stop dates that are reported in all six
parts of the Wisconsin demonstration are essential variables in the
linkage process. These variables, used in conjunction with the utility
code, weather station identification, and customer identification,
enable the records of the separate data groups to be matched and
merged or subset. When corrections of data values were made, and
updated record was added to the file, but the originally reported data
record was retained. In these instances where there are duplicate
records for the same reporting period, the second record has the
correct data values. 2) The codebook is provided by ICPSR as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.