Effects of bill disaggregation information on residential customers` perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. Final report

Technical Report · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:61139

Hopkins, L J; Paquette, R E ^[1]

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1. Cambridge Systematics, Inc., MA (United States)

As the electric power industry enters a new era of competition, understanding customers` perceptions, attitudes and behaviors towards energy prices and usage becomes increasingly important. A number of utilities are currently providing bill disaggregation services to their residential customers. Although their reasons for doing so vary from utility to utility, one or more of the following reasons usually apply: response to bill complaints, demand-side management (DSM) promotion, time-of-use rate conformance, and improving their relations with customers. An underlying reason for providing bill disaggregation service is the belief that most customers do not have a good idea of what they are paying for when they pay their monthly electricity bills. Although utilities believe that providing such information is valued by their customers, they are not sure how it affects customers behaviors, perceptions and attitudes towards the services they receive or the utility that provides the service. To address these issues, EPRI sponsored a research project to determine the effects of providing residential customers with end-use information. This report provides the methodology and results of the study. The overall objective of this study was to examine how residential customers value their energy purchases and end uses, with particular focus on the value and impact of bill disaggregation on perceived valuation and energy consumption. Once all of the data was available, the effects were analyzed to assess the following: how customers perceive the cost and value of their electricity consumption in the absence of any information other than their total electricity bill; how customer perceptions change when provided with disaggregated energy bill information; and how customer behavior changes during the study period.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Cambridge Systematics, Inc., MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 61139
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR--104801
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ATTITUDES
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENERGY EXPENSES
HOUSEHOLDS
HUMAN FACTORS
PUBLIC OPINION
PUBLIC RELATIONS
RATE STRUCTURE
RESIDENTIAL SECTOR