User behavior in a real-world peer-to-peer electricity market

Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy markets are a widely discussed approach toward a sustainable energy supply that allows private owners of distributed energy resources (e.g., solar panels) and consuming households to trade energy directly without intermediaries. P2P energy markets are expected to contribute to a green, local, and fair energy system in the future. The approach implies a paradigm shift regarding the role of citizens who evolve from passive consumers into active market participants. While first existing research primarily focused on the technical feasibility of such scenarios, end users and their role in P2P markets have received little attention. The present article studies the behavior of 35 households and two commercial entities in Switzerland's first real-world P2P energy market. In this unique real-world setting, based on a mixed methods approach, we developed and deployed a web application and empirically studied interaction, acceptance, and participation in electricity pricing in this P2P energy market, using data from system logs, surveys, and interviews. The findings are threefold. First, the P2P energy market was well received among its users, indicated by comparably high and stable usage activity of the web application throughout the study (4.5 months). Second, users in the sample are heterogeneous; based on their engagement with the web application and their stated preferences, they can be categorized into those who want to actively set prices (30%); those who prefer automated prices determined by an information system (35%); and non-users/non-respondents to surveys (35%). Third, an analysis of interviews with nine households suggests that P2P energy markets may increase the salience of renewable energies and may promote load-shifting activities. Thus, the article provides empirical insights about the user behavior of households and their future role in decentralized energy scenarios.