Consumer Behavior in Using Prepaid Electricity Systems in the Covid-19 Pandemic Period in Makassar City, Indonesia

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic throughout 2020, made many community activities carried out at home. Thus, people are believed to use a lot of electrical energy for activities at home. The government has implemented various efforts in order to save energy by the community. . However, the visible phenomenon is that the use of electrical energy in households is still high. This study aims to determine the behavior of prepaid electricity consumption during the Covid-19 pandemic, which is carried out descriptively quantitatively, with a sample of 100 people through the snowball sampling technique. Collecting data through questionnaires and then tested using the Cochran Q-Test method. The results show that the behavior displayed by prepaid electricity consumers in consuming electricity during the Covid-19 pandemic is summarized as follows (1) Electricity is used to carry out activities at home, starting from gardening, in the kitchen, getting entertainment, studying, and working, 2) Electricity is used to support business opening shops during the Covid-19 pandemic, (3) The use of large electricity due to the large number of family members (4) The habit of forgetting to turn off electricity when leaving the house (5) Use of electricity to turn on the air conditioner all day longKeywords: consumer behavior, prepaid electricity, household sector, and the covid-19 pandemicJEL Classification: C42, D10, M00, O30DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11403