Grant Smith

Grant is a Senior Research Officer at ESRG. He is interested in using Behavioural economics, big data, and public economics to solve problems at the local government level. This has led him to conduct work on energy and water pricing, individual and household consumption, utility bill design, app design, traffic congestion, grid planning, and building design. He is especially interested in helping individuals, households, firms, and governments (at all levels of locality) allocate scarce resources in a manner that optimises welfare. Mainly he seeks to achieve this by studying the decisions that they actually make, versus the decisions that they should make to achieve the goals which they agree will improve welfare.

Qualifications

MComm - Economics, UCT

Current focus areas

• Campaigners project (Individual and group energy consumption behaviour change.
• World Bank/IFC EDGE building standard evaluation pilot project
• Western Cape Municipal High Energy Users future energy demand.
• Socially optimal utilities pricing (PhD)

Publications

Jack, B. K., & Smith, G. (2020). Charging Ahead: Prepaid Metering, Electricity Use and Utility Revenue. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 12(2),134-68.

Bruhl, J., Smith, G., & Visser, M. (2019) Simple is Good: Redesigning Utility Bills to Reduce Complexity and Increase Understanding. Utilities Policy.

Jack, B. K., & Smith, G. (2015). Pay as You Go: Prepaid Metering and Electricity Expenditures in South Africa. American Economic Review, 105(5), 237-241.