Ever wonder how your neighbor's electricity usage (and bill) compares with yours? The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is answering that question for thousands of its customers chosen to participate in an innovative experiment designed to spur conservation.
SMUD randomly selected 35,000 residential customers, tracked their electricity use and compared it with the use of 100 of their similarly situated neighbors. The comparison group lives in the same neighborhood, has about the same size house, the same type of heater, either electric or gas.
Since April, the 35,000 customers selected have received monthly score cards with three bar graphs. One shows how much electricity the targeted customer used; a second shows the average use for all 100 residential customers with whom the targeted customer was compared; and a third, the average usage for the 20 most efficient neighbors surveyed.
The score card allowed the selected customers to do more than compare themselves with their neighbors. SMUD also provided energy-saving tips specifically tied to the customer receiving the report.
For example, if the report showed an unusual spike in a customer's energy use during the summer, the SMUD tip might suggest that the customer check to see if their air-conditioning system needed repair. If the high-energy-use customer had a pool, the tip might be to reduce the hours that the filter on the pool is allowed to run.
If the customer was an average user but wanted to push themselves into the super-efficient level, the SMUD tip might suggest they clean the coils on the back of the refrigerator.
While some test customers, especially those who used a lot more electricity than their neighbors, complained that they felt "guilt tripped" by the score cards, SMUD's experiment is having its intended effect. Electricity use for those receiving score cards declined 2.5 percent overall.
The benefits go beyond the customers tested. Conservation is the cheapest, most efficient and environmentally responsible way to stretch our region's limited electricity supply. The more SMUD can persuade customers to use less electricity, the better able it is to keep the lights on and rates low.
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