Rochester Institute of Technology RIT Scholar Works Theses Thesis/Dissertation Collections 2-13-2015 Factors affecting the regular monthly payment of electricity bills in Hajvali Dina Vllasaliu Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses Recommended Citation Vllasaliu, Dina, "Factors affecting the regular monthly payment of electricity bills in Hajvali" (2015). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Senior Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Thesis/Dissertation Collections at RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Student: Dina Vllasaliu Supervisor: Brian Bowen Adviser: Alicia English Title: Factors affecting the regular monthly payment of electricity bills in Hajvali Date of Submission: February 2015 Keywords: 1) Electrical energy 2) Affordability 3) Energy efficiency 4) Service quality 5) Social assistance 6) kWh 7) KEDS 8) Hajvali Submitted to A.U.K. as part of requirement for graduation 2 Factors affecting the regular monthly payment of electricity bills in Hajvali Honors Society Project Presented to The Academic Faculty By Dina Vllasaliu In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Membership in the Honors Society of the American University in Kosovo 3 Acknowledgments It is my pleasure and moral obligation to express my sincere gratitude to all the people that helped me in the completion of this senior undergraduate project. To my thesis adviser and professor, Dr. Alicia English for the endless advices, useful criticisms, great knowledge in the field of electricity, and words of encouragement without whom the project would not have the logical flow and richness it has today. To my supervisor, Dr. Brian Bowen for the technical support, insightful comments, patience, individual assistance, and constant help in narrowing the focus of the study. To the survey subjects of Hajvali that warmly welcomed me in on the freezing weather. It is because of them I was able to conduct the needed primary research and complete the project. To Alper Erbas, Agim Krasniqi, and Nexhat Syla for sparing some minutes of their time to answer interview questions that would have otherwise still been left unanswered. I would also thank my fellow students that work on the Center of Energy and Natural Resources who went with me to collect the surveys despite their personal obligations and unfavorable weather conditions. Deepest appreciations go to my parents for the constant moral support, belief, and non- stop encouragement to strive for more achievements. Lastly, I give special thanks to Lule Bahtiri and Mimoze Veliu, my two great friends who stood with me through thick and thin, thus giving a colorful meaning to my academic path. To quote my favorite author: “Help will always be given at [AUK] to those who ask for it”-J.K. Rowling. 4 Table of Contents Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 2. Overview of electricity situation in United States and Europe .................... 15 2.1. Why do we need electrical energy; is it a basic human right? ............................ 15 2.2. Electricity situation in the United States ............................................................. 15 2.3. Electricity situation in some European countries ................................................ 18 2.4. Electricity situation in the Balkans ..................................................................... 22 Chapter 3. Overview of electricity situation in Kosovo and Hajvali ............................. 27 3.1. Energy generation and quality of service in Kosovo .......................................... 27 3.2. Future plans for improving the quality of service in Kosovo ............................. 29 3.3. Electricity demand and forecasts for the near future in the country ................... 30 3.4. Electricity prices in Kosovo ................................................................................ 31 3.5. Electricity affordability and bill payment in Kosovo .......................................... 32 3.6. Social assistance fund for low income families in Kosovo ................................. 35 3.7. Degree of energy efficient consumption patterns in the country ........................ 35 Hajvali overall electricity situation ............................................................................... 36 3.8. Quality of service in Hajvali and customers’ complaints ................................... 36 3.9. Electricity affordability and bill payment in Prishtina and Hajvali .................... 37 3.10. Energy efficiency in Prishtina and Hajvali ...................................................... 38 Chapter 4. Methodology of data collection .................................................................... 39 4.1. Investigation steps ............................................................................................... 39 4.2. Sampling methodology ....................................................................................... 39 4.3. Regression analysis ............................................................................................. 41 5 4.4. Strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of the project ......................................... 41 Chapter 5. Analysis: Affordability and bill payment ..................................................... 43 Affordability of bills and payment rates ....................................................................... 44 5.1. Bill collection rate and KEDS plans to increase payment .................................. 44 5.2. Lack of disposable income .................................................................................. 45 5.3. Electricity subsidization ...................................................................................... 49 Satisfaction of customers with the quality of service .................................................... 51 5.4. Low transparency ................................................................................................ 51 5.5. Low satisfaction with service quality .................................................................. 52 Chapter 6. Analysis: Energy inefficient consumption patterns ...................................... 55 6.1. Tariff structure lack of knowledge and carelessness is turning off appliances ... 55 6.2. Inefficient electric appliances.............................................................................. 59 6.3. Future possibilities .............................................................................................. 61 Chapter 7. Discussion of results and comparisons between studies .............................. 62 7.1. Analysis on bill affordability and study comparisons ......................................... 62 7.2. Analysis on service quality and study comparisons ............................................ 66 7.3. Analysis on efficient consumption and study comparisons ................................ 67 Chapter 8. Recommendations and conclusions .............................................................. 71 8.1. No payment, no service ....................................................................................... 71 8.2. Re-introduction of cheaper tariffs during the day time ....................................... 72 8.3. Educating the citizens toward a more energy efficient lifestyle ......................... 73 8.4. More transparency, happier customers................................................................ 74 8.5. Improvement to the social assistance fund .......................................................... 75 8.6. Conclusions and future directions for other studies ............................................ 77 References ......................................................................................................................... 79 6 Appendix A. Theft of electricity .................................................................................... 86 Appendix B. Regression analysis and the statistical significance of the factors............ 87 Appendix C. Interviews.................................................................................................. 92 Appendix D. Survey questions ....................................................................................... 94 7 List of Tables TABLE 5-1: REFLECTIVENESS OF MONTHLY BILLS IN CONSUMPTION ............................................................................ 52 TABLE 6-1: EDUCATIONAL DEGREE OF THE SUBJECTS .................................................................................................. 56 TABLE 6-2: TYPES OF LIGHT BULBS IN THE HOUSEHOLDS ............................................................................................. 61 TABLE 7-1: FLUORESCENT LIGHTBULB USE ACROSS EU, USA, AND PRISHTINA .......................................................... 67 TABLE 7-2: HAJVALI FLUORESCENT LIGHTBULB USE FROM PRIMARY DATA ................................................................. 67 TABLE 8-1: PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLDS THAT ARE ENERGY INEFFICIENT ................................................................ 73 TABLE 8-2: ADDITIONAL MONETARY SUBSIDIES IF EUROCENTS PER KWH WENT