Feedback on household electricity consumption: a tool for saving energy?

Abstract

Improved feedback on electricity consumption may provide a tool for customers to better control their consumption and ultimately save energy. This paper asks which kind of feedback is most successful. For this purpose, a psychological model is presented that illustrates how and why feedback works. Relevant features of feedback are identified that may determine its effectiveness: frequency, duration, content, breakdown, medium and way of presentation, comparisons, and combination with other instruments. The paper continues with an analysis of international experience in order to find empirical evidence for which kinds of feedback work best. In spite of considerable data restraints and research gaps, there is some indication that the most successful feedback combines the following features: it is given frequently and over a long time, provides an appliance-specific breakdown, is presented in a clear and appealing way, and uses computerized and interactive tools.

Effects of Pay-As-You-Drive vehicle insurance on young drivers’ speed choice: Results of a Dutch field experiment

“…We however expect this possibility to be unlikely. First, feedback tends to be effective when presented frequently, and in close proximity to the target behavior (Fischer, 2008), which was not the case in our experiment. Second, considering the limited number of participants that actually visited the website (the majority of participants did not visit the website during the first intervention phase, let alone during later stages of the experiment), it seems unlikely that the presence of the website, by itself, can account for the pattern of results.…”

Information strategies and energy conservation behavior: A meta-analysis of experimental studies from 1975 to 2012

“…Energy use accounts for 40% of greenhouse gases across the world and effective conservation programs could contribute to significant environmental improvements. A large number of energy conservation experiments have been conducted using various information strategies to reduce energy use (Abrahamse et al, 2005;Fischer, 2008;Vining and Ebreo, 2002). These include providing users with savings tips, historical individual usage, real time energy usage, peer usage etc.…”

“…Several authors have provided descriptive reviews of this research area, comparing methods used across studies (Abrahamse et al, 2005), discussing factors influencing residential energy conservation (Burgess and Nye, 2008;Steg, 2008), classifying studies by theoretical approach (Fischer, 2008;Vining and Ebreo, 2002), or presenting comparative case studies of residential energy efficiency programs in certain geographic areas Mullaly, 1998). While providing interesting insights, these qualitative reviews do not constitute a firm basis for estimating the average treatment effect of behavioral energy conservation programs.…”

A Multi-Method Evaluation of the Potential for Using the Electricity Bill to Encourage Energy Savings in Norwegian Households

“…Earlier studies of normative feedback have yielded unexciting results: Out of twelve such studies reviewed by Fischer (2008), none finds a statistically significant difference between the effect of this treatment and other types of information (Note 1). In some of the studies, a boomerang effect is evident.…”