We have been running a trial in Greenwich to see how a new generation of energy monitors could help council tenants reduce their energy use, and develop greater awareness of their devices and energy consumption in the home. Our Economist, Leanne Kelly is part of the team delivering the project and also volunteered to take part. For our latest piece, she tells us how she’s finding living with the technology…

Now we’re several months into our Smart Energy Device trial, it seems like a good time to reflect on progress and how it’s going against our predictions. Plus, I have been testing the device in my own home as part of our project plan. Has this been helpful in shaping participant engagement – and in better understanding my own energy use habits?

The objective was to install and test the value of smart electricity monitors for residents in council-owned homes. We wanted to see how residents would benefit from greater visibility of their electricity use, coupled with support and advice provided through an online energy community. There are three main elements to the user experience:

• The smart device’s phone app: push notifications raise awareness of usage and encourage participants to test and learn from its different features.

• The Energy Community: a WhatsApp group enables participants to share their experience and ask questions, and allows our team to test nudges and set challenges.

• User surveys: participants provided insights on their current knowledge, views and confidence in energy management, and set broad goals for the trial –  a very useful baseline.

Progress so far

A key area of success has been in highlighting ‘always on’ energy consumption, which, beyond fridge-freezers and critical home equipment, reflects the so-called ‘vampire load’ – the electricity drain from appliances plugged in or on stand-by, but not in use.

This looked to be an easy win for a group of participants with differing levels of app engagement and knowledge. The device’s AI would continue to learn and identify individual appliances, which can make the device even more useful, but the ‘always on’ usage was there to reduce overall energy use. We ensured participants understood what this category was composed of, and encouraged them to walk around their homes to see how their live consumption (in-app) changes as they switch appliances on and off. We then set the group a three-week challenge: can they reduce this? We also used a reference group from the USA (their Always On percentage) and mid-way feedback to activate a sense of competition, social norm and group focus.

This challenge saw electricity use somewhat decrease for the group overall compared to the weeks prior, with some households showing a much higher reduction. However, it didn’t work for all, and there was less of a reduction in the ‘always on’ shares than we had initially hoped. A lesson is that a nudge like this for a small group of people may reach individuals at different times – some may have other priorities that week, some may be on holiday, others may need a boost to their interest that week. It's clear that the timing of these nudges, and convenience, is key. A ‘Nudge Plus’[1] approach may have been even more useful in engaging individuals at a good time for them, and giving space for them to consider and reflect around such a challenge.

Other information, nudges and challenge campaigns have included:

• App-based nudges: Here, we asked people what their device has found, or what they have found interesting or surprising, focused on specific app features each time, such as ‘How to...’ and ‘Why don’t you try?’

• Advice shares: To support the technology, we provided accompanying energy saving tips for an appliance or behaviour that was raised in the Community Group chat: ‘Did You Know…’

We have found the level of engagement in the Energy Community WhatsApp, four months since inception, pretty encouraging. Analysis shows that participants are opening the app on average twice a week. There has also been a downward trend of electricity consumption per home, which was a key project outcome in the Theory of Change. This will be subject to further analysis for significance and with control variables.

How has my experience with the device compared to the wider trial?

Installation was completed smoothly, in that my electricity use was ready to be viewed immediately. I was opening the app a lot in the first few weeks, exploring what the device was quickly learning itself. This was typically after work (when various appliances might be switched on) and before leaving home to see if any appliances were in stand-by mode. I have had the chance to test how our advice and recommendations could work for the group, for example, what happens and how does it look if we use the ‘live consumption’ feature and turn appliances on? And could we get notifications about weekly goals?

Now, I am motivated to open the app when I receive a notification about a new appliance or one turning on – my app usage has dropped and is now closer to the group’s average. This helped us recognise the value of selecting which notifications are on and when (avoiding information overload and using novelty to promote engagement) and carrying this through into our approach to campaigns and messaging.

Like other participants, I’m really keen to see other complicated appliances identified separately by the device, like washing machines. Particularly in a cost-of-living crisis, there is real value for residents to know what a load of washing consumes and is estimated to cost. I am still checking what might be plugged in – the app is my ‘quick check’, and I’m still keen to see my consumption below the average device user and at the lower end of my own range. In my household’s experience, the app makes that really easy and pretty fun to do this.

Next up, we’re looking forward to having conversations with participants on their own journeys. Alongside the analysis and feedback so far, this will help us tailor approaches to wider roll-out and identify the best ways to support residents, given their current knowledge and tech confidence. So far, we’re seeing some benefits of a combined tech + behaviour approach, giving support and advice to encourage wider energy efficiency literacy, helping people tell their standard kWhs from their vampire load!

If you’d like to know more about how we deliver pilot projects, work with tech companies or local authorities, get in touch.

[1] Banerjee, S., & John, P. (2021). Nudge plus: Incorporating reflection into behavioural public policy. Behavioural Public Policy, 1-16. doi:10.1017/bpp.2021.6