The Effect of Gas Price Increase on Household Consumption in Semnan after the First Stage Implementation of Targeted Subsidies

 Government subsidies are one of the most important challenges in Iran’s economy, especially concerning the field of energy. The main objective of this paper is to examine the impact of natural gas price shocks on consumption of Semnan household Gas subscribers. Thus , the function o f household consumption of natural gas customers in Semnan city was estimated by Generalized Moments Method (GMM), during April 1385 and March 1391. Variables consisted are natural gas prices, lag of per capita consumption, temperature, lag of per capita income, the price of electricity. According to the estimated price and income elasticity, consumers have significant sensitivity to changes in natural Gas prices however structural break has not been observed in the pattern of natural Gas consumption.