The impact of consumers’ feedback preferences on domestic electricity consumption

Despite all initiatives introduced for maximizing energy savings domestic energy consumption is in constant increase. However, very little investigation has been carried out on the integration of household’ consumption trends, the parameters influencing them and the characteristics of the provided feedback. 2000 Swedish households were included in this study. Electricity consumption data for apartments and houses has been analyzed for a 4 year period as well as possible household socio-economic factors affecting it. The data has been further compared to other households located in different cities in Sweden. The effects of the different ways of presenting feedback used for the different households groups have also been evaluated. From the results obtained from the questionnaire used, several households’ characteristics were proposed together with consumers’ preferences to be considered during the development of feedback. Web based feedback resulted in being the most effective (when compared to display and bills), achieving electricity savings of approximately 15% within households that visited the web-site. The monthly income is amongst the most influential factors determining electricity consumption although only in high and low income groups.

► Groups of households characteristics and electricity consumption trends compared.
► Individual households variations larger than between groups.
► Web based feedback reduced consumption with 15%.
► Income influences consumption of high and low income groups.
► Feedback should be based on specific household characteristics.