Planning, implementing, and evaluating energy hotlines: profiles and guidelines

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5640918

Collins, N E

Responses given during telephone interviews by 45 of 56 identified US energy hotlines were used to develop profiles along 7 planning variables and 10 operating variables. With few exceptions, hotline services are operated by state and federal agencies; mean time of operation as of June 1981 was 32.5 months. Typical operating costs for 3 years totaled $167,000; mean calls received totalled 64,400 (25,600 annually). Cost-per-call averaged $7.33 and ranged from $1.26 to $31.24; by the fourth year of operation, cost-per-call dropped below $3.00 and approached $1.00 by the sixth. The hotline number was publicized primarily through agency literature; the mass medium used most for publicity was radio, followed by newspapers and television. On a scale of 0 to 100 (Hotline Index of Publicity Efforts, or HIPE), all hotlines averaged 48. State energy offices dominated sponsorship of general information and energy conservation hotlines; specific topics tended to be handled by federal agencies, universities, and other state agencies. Thirteen hypotheses were tested in which call volume was the dependent variables and independent variables were either manager-controllable (operating costs and HIPE score) or manager-monitorable (degree days, energy prices, population, and temperature deviation from the norm).

• OSTI ID: 5640918
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
291000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Conservation
COMMUNICATIONS
COST
ENERGY
ENERGY CONSERVATION
INFORMATION
PUBLIC INFORMATION
STATE GOVERNMENT
TELEPHONES