Abstract

This paper aims to provide a perspective on the way scientific evidence collected in times of crises can inform current debates in the literature on energy consumer behaviour, but also the decision-making process. Data such as the one that resulted from our quasi-experimental interventions in Romania during overlapping crises such as the COVID-19 pandemics and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine-affecting energy prices and consumer behaviour. While we acknowledge the well documented challenges of replicating pilot studies based on convenient sampling to full population surveys, we also suggest that the latter are ultimately a feasible and cost-effective measurement of changes in contexts of sudden shocks. Such data collection efforts could become the object of an ongoing multi-stakeholder engagement process leading to better-designed and deployed policies that can deliver much better in both short-term goals (e.g. managing price fluctuations in energy crises) and more medium and long-term scenarios (e.g. just energy transition).