Energy-Saving Effects of Home Energy Reports

Using data drawn from a 2013 field experiment, this chapter examines the energy-saving effects of home energy reports (HERs). HERs provide consumers with energy conservation tips and compare consumers’ energy usage with that of similar neighbors. These comparisons categorized consumers as “energy-using,” “average,” or “energy-saving.” The energy usage comparisons provide social norm information, thereby inducing consumers to conserve energy. In contrast to the HER experiments in the United States that sent the report to households by mail, the staff visited each participating household and explained the HERs in detail during the experiment. The empirical results imply that the effects of HERs depended on electricity contracts. Therefore, HERs contributed to a reduction in electricity usage, in households with all-electric contracts, while the energy-saving effects were not found in households with standard contracts. The electricity-saving effect of HERs on the all-electric households ranged from 4.0–8.7 %, which was found in each category of electricity usage. Overall, there was no indication of so-called “boomerang” effects, which raise electricity usage of households categorized as “energy-saving.” The electricity-saving effect of HERs was found to become larger during the mornings and evenings of weekdays. This effect could persist over several weeks after providing HERs to some groups of households.