The use of “Bonus-Malus” schemes for promoting energy-efficient household appliances: a case study for Spain

The research paper investigates the effectiveness of Bonus-Malus schemes for promoting energy-efficient household appliances in Spain, specifically focusing on dishwashers, refrigerators, and washing machines. The authors develop a methodology to optimize the combination of taxes and subsidies to minimize dead weight loss (DWL) while meeting specific policy goals such as emission reductions or budget neutrality. The study finds that while simple subsidies can lead to welfare loss and increased energy bills due to a higher total number of appliances, a combined tax-subsidy approach can more effectively shift the market toward efficient goods. For instance, achieving a 10% emission reduction for dishwashers would be most effective by taxing both labelled and non-labelled goods, though this results in a significant reduction in the total number of appliances. Conversely, budget-neutral schemes can increase the share of efficient appliances but may inadvertently increase total energy consumption if the increase in efficient units outweighs the reduction in inefficient ones.

• The authors argue that using both taxes and subsidies in a Bonus-Malus scheme is more effective than subsidies alone, as it allows the policy to be "partially financed by taxes, thus significantly reducing the cost of the policy."
• Previous analysis of the Spanish 'Renove' rebate scheme for dishwashers indicated that subsidies for efficient appliances (labels A, A+, A++) can lead to an increase in energy bills because the total number of appliances in use grows by 1.4-2% and labelled dishwashers increase by 4.8-7.7%.
• To achieve a 10% emission reduction for dishwashers under the proposed model, the most effective approach involves taxing both labelled and non-labelled goods, which would generate 235 million euro in government revenue and save 51,298 MWh/year, but would reduce the total number of appliances by 179,574 units.
• When budget neutrality is the primary goal, the study finds that a €90 subsidy on labelled dishwashers requires a €8.32 tax on non-labelled ones; however, this specific combination increases the total number of appliances by 6,134 and results in an energy consumption increase of 383 MWh/year.
• The research demonstrates that the dead weight loss (DWL) associated with emission reduction targets increases rapidly as the targets become more ambitious.

APA

Galarraga, I., & Abadie, L. M. (2014). The use of “Bonus-Malus” schemes for promoting energy-efficient household appliances: a case study for Spain. Basque Centre for Climate Change. https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/20141029034809861352317.pdf

Chicago

Galarraga, Ibon, and Luis M. Abadie. The use of “Bonus-Malus” schemes for promoting energy-efficient household appliances: a case study for Spain. Basque Centre for Climate Change, 2014. https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/20141029034809861352317.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Galarraga |first1=Ibon |last2=Abadie |first2=Luis M. |title=The use of “Bonus-Malus” schemes for promoting energy-efficient household appliances: a case study for Spain |publisher=Basque Centre for Climate Change |date=September 2014 |url=https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/20141029034809861352317.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{galarraga2014use, author = {Galarraga, Ibon and Abadie, Luis M.}, title = {{The use of “Bonus-Malus” schemes for promoting energy-efficient household appliances: a case study for Spain}}, institution = {Basque Centre for Climate Change}, year = {2014}, month = sep, url = {https://www.bc3research.org/h6T8Uy8Nm4gFs0O/20141029034809861352317.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }