Household consumption of electricity in Brazil between 1985 and 2013 Maria José Charfuelan Villareal n , João Manoel Losada Moreira Center of Engineering, Modeling and Applied Social Sciences, Universidade Federal do ABC, Av. dos Estados 5001, 09210-580 Santo André, SP, Brazil HIGHLIGHTS  Brazilian residential electricity sector.  Special Features and structure of the residential electricity consumption.  Representation and modeling of electrical energy consumption.  Elasticities consumption-tariff; consumption-income; consumption- households. article info Article history: Received 30 November 2015 Received in revised form 18 April 2016 Accepted 18 April 2016 Keywords: Residential electricity consumption Brazil Household income Electricity tariff Number of households Households appliances abstract This article describes the electricity consumption in Brazilian residences between 1985 and 2013 through linear regressions. The explanatory variables considered were the number of households, effective consumption of families as a proxy for family income, and electricity tariff for households. To deal with the power generation crisis of 2001 we have introduced a dummy variable in the form of a step function. With such explanatory variables, we were able to account for the reduction of household electricity consumption caused by the policies conducted in 2001 and their permanent consequences. The re- gression presented coefficient of determination of 0.9892, and the several statistic tests conducted as- sured the existence of long-term relation between the electricity consumption in residences and the explanatory variables. The obtained elasticities for the household consumption of electricity with respect to number of residences, family income and residential tariff of electricity were 1.534 70.095, 0.189 70.049, and 0.230 70.060, respectively. These results allowed understanding the evolution over time of the household consumption of electricity in Brazil. They suggest that the electric sector in Brazil should pursue an active policy to manage demand of residential electricity using tariffs as a means to control it. & 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The electricity consumption in residences is normally explained by economic factors such as economic activity, family income, electricity tariffs and those of its substitutes, environmental con- ditions, increasing population, number of residential units, etc. (Nakajima and Hamori, 2010; Achão and Schaeffer, 2009; Sa’ad, 2009; Ghisi et al., 2007; Narayan et al., 2007; Halvorsen and Lar- sen, 2001; Jannuzzi and Schipper, 1991). Other explanatory factors relate to changes in life style, public policies, climate and regional conditions, etc., that induce new behavior, habits and basic needs (Wiesmann et al., 2011; Achão and Schaeffer, 2009; EPE, 2007; Jannuzzi and Schipper, 1991; Ghisi et al., 2007; Halvorsen and Larsen, 2001). Most models reported in the literature consider family income, electricity tariffs, and other complementary factors or explanatory variables which the authors consider important to explain its behavior. For Portugal, a model to describe the electricity consumption in residences included as complementary explanatory variables the household area, persons per household, weather conditions and many other factors (Wiesmann et al., 2011). For the G7 countries, a similar model considered as important complementary variables natural gas tariff, the ratio between electricity and natural gas tariffs, price of home appliances, and ambient temperature. The relatively high magnitudes of the elasticity with respect to elec- tricity and natural gas tariffs suggested their potential use to control residential electricity demands (Narayan et al., 2007). For Norway, the authors considered as important complementary variables the environment temperature, price and number of electric home appliances. They identified as causes for the increase in household electricity intensity the greater use of appliances and Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enpol Energy Policy http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2016.04.030 0301-4215/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: maria.jose@ufabc.edu.br (M.J.C. Villareal), joao.moreira@ufabc.edu.br (J.M.L. Moreira). Energy Policy 96 (2016) 251–259