Document Type

Article

Abstract

With the increasing demand on grid modernization for improving environmental sustain-ability and grid security, the topic of smart meter adoption has attracted much attention, especially with regard to the roles of public policies. However, there is a lack of research investigating the association between the multi-layered government policies and smart meter adoption from a spatial perspective to explain the variant adoption rates across the United States. This study constructs a panel of 48 contiguous U.S. states and the District of Columbia over the period 2007–2019. Using this unique dataset and spatial econometric models, we investigate the impacts of federal and state policies as well as spatial spillover effects of smart meter adoption in the residential sector. Results indicate the following: (1) Smart meter adoption has spatial spillover effects between the adjacent states in a sense that the rate of adoption in one state is positively associated with adoption rates in the neighboring states; (2) federal funding and state-level legislative actions on advanced metering and smart grid have positive impacts on smart meter adoption. These findings provide important implications for the formulation and implementation of public policies for the adoption of a modern electric grid in the U.S.

Publication Title

Sustainability (Switzerland)

Publication Date

2022

Volume

14

Issue

3

ISSN

2071-1050

DOI

10.3390/su14031126

Keywords

government policy, smart meter, spatial spillover, technology adoption

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Business Commons

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