The daylight saving borderline: quasi-experimental analysis of the electric power consumption in Bahia and Tocantins

Abstract The daylight saving time is adopted in Brazil to improve the energy efficiency and the interconnected electrical system safety. Southern states tend to contribute more in this direction, with a questionable boundary in Bahia and Tocantins. Exploring the causal inference model of Neyman-Rubin and some quasi-experimental situations in Bahia and Tocantins, the article analyzes the trajectories of the total state consumption of electric energy using differences-in-differences and synthetic control. It is concluded that the participation of Bahia generates an energy economy of up to 252 GWh, and that the participation of Tocantins does not generate significant effects.