Residential Energy Conservation via Neighbor Benchmarks
Edited by Paweł Raja, PhD · Published · Updated
Percentage Household Energy Savings moved from 0.1% to 2.1% — a +2.0 percentage-point (2000% relative) change (sample: 600,000 households).
Study details
- Challenge
- Traditional educational brochures advising consumers to turn off appliances had zero measurable impact on electrical grid conservation.
- Intervention
- Opower printed a peer-comparison chart on monthly utility bills, grading energy usage against efficient neighbors and rewarding efficiency with simple emoticons (smiley faces).
- Outcome
- Percentage Household Energy Savings: 0.1% (control) → 2.1% (treatment); +2.0 pts, 2000% relative
- Sample
- 600,000 households
- Key takeaway
- Peer benchmarking induces healthy competition and social validation. The addition of emotional feedback (smiley faces) prevents efficient users from experiencing the 'boomerang effect' (increasing usage toward the average).
- Biases leveraged
- Social ProofPeak-End Rule
- Source
- Allcott, H. (2011). Social norms and energy conservation. Journal of Public Economics, 95(9-10), 1082-1095. ↗ source
Cite this page
Behavioral Economics Lab. "Residential Energy Conservation via Neighbor Benchmarks." Behavioral Economics Lab, https://www.behavioraleconomicslab.com/findings/opower-social-comparison.
Primary source: Allcott, H. (2011). Social norms and energy conservation. Journal of Public Economics, 95(9-10), 1082-1095.