Study of consumer's willingness to use solar water heaters in DSM program

Demand-side management (DSM) is an initiative by the utilities to develop programs so as to reduce the consumption of electricity. This includes the use high efficiency devices and fuel substitution devices. In the state of Karnataka, India the DSM programs are yet to take initiation. Water heating application consumes nearly 23% of the electricity in the domestic sector, which is also a reason for the morning peak occurrence. The incentives offered by the government and the utility are not that encouraging for the consumers to move to other modes of water heating. This paper studies some incentives which can be offered to consumers to increase the use of the solar water heaters. A survey is conducted in some urban areas of the state to know the consumers' willingness to use the solar water heaters. The survey included a questionnaire to know the opinion for the proposed incentives and a study of it is carried out.