Economics Research

Abstract  The household sector represents the most significant component of electricity consumption, accounting for the majority of total energy use. In recent years, European nations have increasingly recognized households as key actors in energy governance, demonstrating their critical role in achieving sustainable consumption patterns. Extensive research has therefore focused on how to encourage more sustainable behavior among individuals.This trend is also relevant to Iran, where the household sector accounts for 50.8% of peak-time electricity demand, making it the most significant contributor to consumption during critical periods. As a result, developing effective behavioral policies and reforming consumption patterns in this sector requires regular, nationally representative research to understand how people behave across different segments of society. Therefore, this study investigates electricity consumption behaviors across household groups stratified by three distinct economical status categories. Through empirical analysis, we identify behavioral variations that inform evidence-based policy recommendations for promoting sustainable energy consumption patterns in Iran's residential sector.
Methods and Material
The statistical population of the current study was citizens over 18 years old across the country. Sampling was done with the online snowball method, and the link of the online questionnaire was distributed through various internet channels such as social networks, e-mail, etc., and 1081 samples were collected. The data analysis was done by SPSS software and the validity, subject, and questions of the research were confirmed by examining the theoretical foundations and choosing the conventional subjects and the approval of experts in the field of energy. The reliability of the consumption behavior variable has been obtained through Cronbach's alpha of 0.69
This energy consumption behavior survey, includes a set of behaviors that are performed by family members in different parts of the house. These behaviors have been examined according to the economical status of the household. The set of properties that are related to electricity consumption at home is considered for measuring the variable of the economical status of the household.
Results and Discussion
The average consumption behavior was 56.4873 and the average economical status was 58.2056. The economical status variable is divided into three ranges of high, medium and low economical status. 33% of the sample population was high, 60% medium and 7% low. Pearson's correlation and ANOVA test were used to investigate the relationship between economical status and behavior. The relationship between the economical status and behavior is -0.132, which indicates the inverse relationship between the two variables, so that as the economical status increases, the consumption behavior worsens. The results of the ANOVA test showed that the average difference in consumption behavior among the three economical statuses (high, medium, and low) has been confirmed, and the consumption behavior in low, medium, and high economical status has obtained a higher average, respectively. Also, the results showed that the best behaviors in the field of lighting were recorded in three groups, and the lighting behavior had the lowest average. The best behavior among the low economical status is cleaning behavior, and among the medium and high economical status is lighting.
Conclusion
The results of this research indicate that behavioral policymaking in the household sector should be based on knowing consumption behaviors and the motivations related to them. Although the policies of increasing prices in a gradual manner (based on consequence models that consider material incentives to be effective on behavior) may increase the revenues from consumption for the Ministry of Energy, it does not necessarily lead to a decrease in consumption. Because firstly, the behavior is related to the habits of the household lifestyle; secondly, with this type of interventions, behaviors are temporarily changed and after some time, consumption increases again. Because these behaviors are not internalized for consumers and they do not feel the need to change their behavior. Especially in inflationary conditions, the effect of the increase in tariffs becomes weaker and weaker.
In general, it is necessary to take into account the high consumption target community in the behavioral policy of the electricity and energy sector. While the recent programs in the country focus most on the less-consuming consumers. Finally, it should be kept in mind that any behavioral policy and consumption pattern modification program should be based on field and national researches; the cultural and climatic differences of different regions should be considered; plans should be tested on a trial and regional basis to identify their strengths and weaknesses and report the results of each national program after implementation and its effects.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully appreciate the assistance of all participants and colleagues who supported the data collection phase of this research.

Abstract  Climate change and drought have intensified significantly in recent decades across the country, leading to the proliferation of dust storms in various regions, including in Khuzestan province. One of the adverse effects of dust storms is affecting the power grid and even causing blackouts in some cases. A disaster that occurred in February 2017 in Khuzestan province and had numerous economic consequences. This article proposes a model to estimate the costs associated with power outages. The proxy method is employed to quantify these costs, encompassing lost production for various industrial, agricultural, and public sectors, as well as lost utility for residential customers and revenue losses for electricity companies in Khuzestan province. The results indicate that the damages and costs to the society due to the lost production in medium load are equal to 2597 billion Rials and the damage caused by unsold electricity, which is a kind of damage to the electric companies of Khuzestan province, in medium load. It was equal to 32.4 billion rials. Considering the amount of damage, it is concluded that planning the stability of the country's electricity network, especially in areas prone to dust phenomenon, should be given serious attention. Introduction Among energy carriers, electricity has a special place as secondary energy. Electricity supply is the economic foundation of an industrial country, so that without electricity, industries will not be able to produce, and citizens will not have tools for comfort (Kenward & Raja, 2014). Khuzestan province is considered as the economic and industrial hub of Iran, so after Tehran, it has the largest share in the country's gross domestic product. The existence of major and vital industries such as oil, gas, petrochemicals, and steel are examples of economic and industrial activities in this province. According to the explanations mentioned at the beginning about the importance of electricity in economic and industrial life, the stability of the electricity network in Khuzestan province is very important. Khuzestan electricity network with more than 12,000 Megawatts of power generation capacity and more than 8,000 Kilometers of transmission and distribution network circuits and 200 substations has a high rank in terms of importance in the country's electricity network. But what has affected the stability of this network in the past years is the destructive phenomenon of dust storms. One of the cases that caused widespread disruption in the electricity network of Khuzestan was a heavy dust storm that happened in February 2017, the concentration of dust on this day was 9985 micrograms per cubic meter and 66 times the permissible limit, and due to the high humidity of 90 % caused the electricity of Ahvaz city and parts of Khuzestan province to be cut off. As a result of these blackouts, the drinking water supply system, telecommunication system, mobile phone, internet, etc. were disrupted and administrative and educational centers were closed, crude oil production stopped at some point. Due to the large scale of the disaster, it was necessary to calculate its damages in a study, and this article is organized accordingly. This research aims to determine the importance of electricity supply stability in the country, especially in Khuzestan province. Methods and Material The purpose of this study is to calculate the costs of power outages in February 2017 in Khuzestan province. These costs are divided into two parts, the first part is related to the costs of unsupplied electricity due to blackouts, which are actually incurred by the electricity supply companies in Khuzestan. The second part is also related to the calculation of the costs that society suffered due to blackouts. The sum of these two parts results in the total cost of damages caused by blackouts in February 2017 in Khuzestan province. In this research, in order to calculate the costs of the disaster, the proxy method was chosen. With the help of representative variables, that is, the average electricity tariff, lost production, and lost leisure, and depending on the duration of the blackout, blackout costs are obtained. Results and Discussion The main goal of this research was to introduce a framework for calculating damages caused by power outages. In this research, with the help of the representative method and the value of unsupplied electricity, a comprehensive model was used to calculate the blackout costs in Khuzestan province in February 2017. The sum of the costs calculated in two parts, i.e. damage caused by unsupplied electricity and damage caused by lost production, shows the total costs of electricity outages in Khuzestan province. At the same time, it should be noted that the damage caused to the society (industries, businesses, and households) is much more than the damage to the electricity supply, so it is necessary to invest in the maintenance and promotion of sustainable electricity supply in Khuzestan province. By strengthening the power grid in the event of repeated dust storms, the grid will not collapse and extensive damage will be prevented (Figure 1). Figure 1: Comparison of costs of unsupplied electricity and lost production due to outages) in billions of Rials) Power outage reported Min power load Average power load       Conclusion The findings of this research and similar cases can inform policy-making and decisions within the electricity industry in several key areas: Ensuring the security of electricity supply in Khuzestan province, Managing potential outages effectively, Exploring energy pricing options, Developing standards and guidelines within the Ministry of Energy and its subsidiaries for calculating the damages from power outages during crises, Assessing the long-term costs associated with power outages.