Intervention(s)
We collaborate with a multi-utility mainly active in the North of Italy.
Since 2016, the company sends Home Energy Reports to its electricity and gas customers. The Report is similar to the one first proposed by Opower (Allcott, 2011) and includes the following features: static neighbor comparison, injunctive feedback on relative consumption, dynamic comparison with self, an awareness section called "Make the difference", saving tips. This study focuses on the electricity report. The report is sent to customers by email monthly or bimonthly soon after the electricity bill delivery, following the billing cycle.
The experiments consists in variations of the content of the report, aimed at making more salient the relationship between energy efficiency and relevant themes in current news. The treatments leverage these relationships to encourage energy conservation efforts and the shift to more sustainable consumption. In particular, we exploit the prominence in current news of two issues: energy independence and ecologic transition.
A more efficient use of electricity, the adoption of energy-saving technologies and the shift to green energy and renewable sources are tightly linked to the achievement of energy independence and of the ecologic transition. Importantly, energy conservation is important also for green customers, since renewable energy is scarce and its efficient use would allow it to meet the demand of a broader set of consumers. However, existing research on rebound effects after the adoption of energy-efficient technologies suggests that green customers may not feel the need to control their consumption level.
Given the composition of our sample, we therefore aim to address separate research questions for grey and green customers.
- For grey customers, we ask what the impact of making salient the importance of energy conservation and sustainable energy usage for energy independence and the ecologic transition is on customers' engagement with the utility, electricity consumption and investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy.
- For green customers, we address the previous research question on salience but we are also interested in: (i) whether reminding them -- or revealing to them -- the implications of their contract on the environment, particularly that their electricity consumption generates no Co2 emissions (or that their CO2 emissions are compensated), causes a rebound effect in terms of electricity consumption, investment in energy efficiency and engagement; and (ii) whether making salient the importance of continued effort to save energy in order to help the ecologic transition and energy independence can offset any rebound effect.
This implies that we randomise grey customers into a \textit{salience} and control treatment, where the salience treatment reminds them of the impact of their consumption on the ecologic transition and energy independence. Green customers instead are allocated to one of four conditions, resulting from the interaction of two treatment dimensions, in a factorial design. The first treatment dimension (T1) mirrors the one for grey customers, comparing a control and a salience condition. The second treatment dimension (T2) tests the effect of disclosing the benefits of green energy -- the \textit{green disclosure} condition -- to a control condition. This 2x2 design for green customers results in 4 groups: control, T1 only, T2 only, both T1 and T2.
We implement the treatments by modifying the "Make a difference" and tip sections of the report.