Onzo

By Joel Hagan
Onzo Chief Executive

The Conservative Party has announced that householders will be told how much their neighbours pay for energy, based on a belief that the knowledge that others are paying less for power will drive residents to use electricity more efficiently. Good news, although it’s worth remembering that changing people’s behaviour is a complex challenge that requires a multi-faceted and nuanced approach, and that energy companies may not like it.

After all, if behaviour change were simple, then as a society we would already have solved the challenges of obesity, smoking, alcoholism, sexually transmitted diseases, etc.. Energy use is a challenge comparable to those in health: short-term highs or benefits come hand-in-hand with long-term accumulating damage.

The provision of information is the tip of an iceberg which Susan Michie et al. explored in Making psychological theory useful for implementing evidence based practice: a consensus approach. That iceberg includes knowing how to reduce energy use, authority to require or encourage action, confidence to take an action, a sound cost/benefit analysis, alignment with motivation and goals, the extent of active mental processing required to take an action, having the resources – time, physical, money, social influences, emotions, being able to predict, plan, control, and change behavioural efforts in service of personal goals (think dieting), and habituation (think seatbelts).

Behaviour change is also subtly nuanced. Research shows that people who are told that they outperform a group slack off, counterbalancing improvements by others.

Based on an average of global studies to date, we know that ‘normative’ comparisons in energy bills have reduced energy usage by less than 3%. This compares with 10% for web-based tools and 13% for energy displays.

It is little wonder that utilities are opposed to the mandating of energy displays: they don’t want their core revenue stream decimated. This would in turn affect disastrously their ability to invest in the generation and distribution infrastructure which is required if renewables and local generation are to be embraced and smart metering which enables accurate billing and time-of-use tariffing. All of which are musts, surely, if we are to deal with the energy challenges ahead. What utilities need is an incentive to encourage and enable reductions in usage if the Government is to meet greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets.

Behaviour change is extremely complicated. A multi-faceted approach is required – there is no silver bullet. And little progress will be made on it unless the circle is squared and there is reconciliation between the profit motives of commercial entities, the consumer’s desire to reduce cost, and the Government’s requirement on all our behalves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the planet.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

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