Counting on Behavioral Programs to Reach Efficiency Goals
Published: June 16, 2010
Gwen Farnsworth
Many utilities are faced with challenging goals to reduce their customers’ energy consumption. To meet those goals, some utilities are moving beyond the traditional focus on incentives for energy-efficient devices and are experimenting with behavioral and instructional programs to drive efficiency and conservation. E Source has identified a few North American utilities that count results from a variety of nonincentive programs against their energy savings goals.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) is claiming 1.4 percent savings for residential customers in its Home Electricity Reports (HER) program. Customers receive monthly printed reports comparing their energy use to that of neighbors with similar homes. The reports also feature customized conservation tips, point the customer to relevant incentives, and encourage recipients to save more energy than their neighbors do. SMUD intends to claim deemed savings for each month that customers receive the reports, based on the results of a 2009 evaluation of the program.
Hydro One is getting credit for 6.5 percent reductions in electricity use among residential customers who receive a monitoring device that lets them watch their energy use change in real time. This initiative is similar to SMUD’s in that both programs rely on energy-use feedback to motivate behavior changes such as turning off lights and unplugging freezers that aren’t needed. Hydro One also commissioned an independent evaluation to make a credible case that the energy savings are real and in Hydro One’s case, expected to persist for three years.
Two other nonincentive programs—offered by Puget Sound Energy (PSE) and Otter Tail Power—that are getting credit for energy savings rely primarily on instruction to encourage conservation. The programs target commercial rather than residential customers and are evaluated and tracked differently as well.
Puget Sound Energy offers a resource conservation manager program through which school districts, government agencies, and large commercial businesses receive a financial subsidy to cover part of the salary of an employee who implements energy awareness and efficiency projects. PSE reports about 5 percent annual energy savings per year for each participant. The savings estimates are derived from the utility’s own analysis of participant bill data.
Otter Tail Power included a few nontraditional programs in its recent program filings. One of those initiatives, a Building Operator Certification training program, is a set of intensive courses for facility managers on topics like motor and HVAC maintenance. Based on an independent evaluation, the utility projected energy reductions of about 0.35 kilowatt-hours per square foot for each facility managed by someone who completes the program, although actual results have not yet been verified.
Here are a few lessons gleaned from these early ventures in claiming savings for behavioral programs:
Be prepared to prove your case. Even if someone else conducted an evaluation study of a similar program, you’ll probably need to test the program with your customers.
Incorporate the ability to track savings into your program design. For a feedback initiative, set up a control group so you can compare their energy use to that of program participants. For an instructional program, such as a workshop or walk-through audit, keep track of recommendations for each participant or a standard set of recommended measures. Later, you can tally up estimated savings for participants who report taking action.
Estimate energy savings conservatively. If you run a pilot test with volunteers, they are probably more inclined to adjust their lifestyle to save energy than your typical customer. If you test a feedback program for a year, it’s probably only valid to claim savings for one year. And make sure to subtract energy reductions that you know or suspect may be due to equipment the customer installed with a rebate from another utility program.
We expect to see more utilities seeking credit for the energy savings from programs such as these. But utilities could end up limiting their efforts if they focus too much on tracking energy savings. Even if it’s not cost-effective to measure energy reductions from behavioral and instructional initiatives, these efforts can point customers to incentive programs and broadly raise awareness of ways to save energy.
E Source has many resources for utilities that are looking to develop and track behavior-change programs. Contact us for more information. |
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About the Author
Gwen Farnsworth
ASSOCIATE RESEARCH DIRECTOR, E SOURCE
Gwen Farnsworth, an associate research director at E Source, investigates programs promoting energy-efficient behavior and technologies as well as strategies for measuring savings. With an emphasis on energy management in the commercial sector, she also advises corporate energy managers and tracks trends in energy usage by key segments of the commercial market. Before joining E Source, Gwen worked at the RAND Corp. in Santa Monica, California, where she participated in a range of public policy research, including public investments in renewable energy technologies. |
