This measure has effectively encouraged people to consume electricity in off-peak hours. Similar pricing incentives (also agreed and implemented at the provincial level) are applied to industry to promote peak shaving and load shifting, along with measures to shut down energy-intensive factories to help rationalise electricity use in extreme weather conditions. As the measure divides the day into two or three time intervals for which prices are fixed, it does not allow real-time response to demand-supply fluctuations across smaller time intervals, as might result from variable renewables.