• Which star-rating of ACs is more popular?
• Does a neighbour or a friend owning an AC affect the purchase decision?
• What temperature is an AC usually set at?

In this webinar, we presented insights on these and other questions related to the purchase and usage behaviour of room air-conditioners. These insights are based on a survey of 1500 households in five Tier-2 cities across India. A report on the findings along with the survey data and codebook is available on our website.

Rising demand for space-cooling and particularly the use of ACs has the potential of putting enormous strain on India’s power system by not only pushing up the overall electricity demand but also requiring to build generation and distribution capacity to meet the demand at peak times. India already has a few policies/programmes to address this increasing demand from ACs. A systematic understanding of consumer behaviour is crucial to design these interventions effectively and to periodically assess their outcomes. This study adds to the limited literature examining the household behaviour related to the purchase and use of AC in India.

Speaker: Mokshda Kaul
Organisers: Shweta Kulkarni, Aditya Chunekar 

The presentation made at the webinar and its full recording can be accessed below.