Using in-home displays to provide smart meter feedback about household electricity consumption: A randomized control trial comparing kilowatts, cost, and social norms

• Providing residents with normative framed electricity feedback reduced energy use.
• Cost-framed feedback is preferred by residents, but did not reduce energy use.
• Information increases knowledge about energy use, but does not reduce consumption.
• Special consideration should be given to the frame accompanying real-time feedback.

A randomized control field experiment is reported using in-home displays to reduce household electricity consumption. Custom-coded in-home displays (IHDs) were created to provide real-time household electricity consumption feedback, and were framed as either (a) simple kW consumption, or (b) kW consumption and the corresponding cost, or (c) kW consumption and a dynamically-derived social normative frame. Analyses focused on household electricity consumption in the first week following deployment, and again over a 3-month time span. Findings showed that households receiving simple feedback, and feedback framed as cost did not differ significantly from the randomized control at either the 1-week or the 3-month time points. Similarly, results showed that educational materials alone did not reduce electricity consumption. However, significant effects were found for households receiving the normative frame, which consumed 9% less than control households during the initial 1-week evaluation period, and 7% less during the full 3-month evaluation period. Yet despite these findings, residents reported more positive experiences and more obligations to conserve electricity with the cost and feedback IHDs. The results suggest that in-home displays offer promise for encouraging energy conservation, but careful consideration should be given to the way that the feedback is framed.