Analysing Residential Energy Demand: An Error Correction Demand System Approach for Ireland

This paper analyses the Irish residential energy demand system by using variants of Deaton and Muellbauer’s Almost Ideal Demand System model. Annual data from 1970 to 2013 are employed to estimate a demand system for solid fuels, oil, gas and electricity with the models incorporating quadratic and demographic terms to estimate long-run price and expenditure elasticities. This is the first attempt in an Irish context to estimate an energy demand system for the residential sector. Error correction models were also estimated to recover short-run elasticities. Against the backdrop of onerous climate and energy efficiency policy targets, and given the residential sector’s substantial energy use, it is important to update energy demand elasticity estimates to better inform policy instrument design.