Market research on demand-side management programs: Preferences among commercial customers: Final report

Technical Report · Mon Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6187324

Farber, M; George, S

This project demonstrates the effective use of market research to design commercial sector demand-side management (DSM) programs that are responsive to the attitudes and preferences of customers. The primary research method for this project was a telephone survey of San Diego Gas and Electric and Bonneville Power Administration commercial sector customers, which gathered information in the areas of customer characteristics (e.g., size, type of business), attitudes about energy issues, and interest in five types of DSM programs. The five programs are: reduced interest loans for DSM measures, direct DSM investment by the utility, direct load controls, payments by utilities for energy savings, and guaranteed savings. A working hypothesis for this project was that different segments within the commercial sector would have different attitudes about DSM and thus would be interested in different types of utility DSM programs. The results indicate a strong relationship between customer attitude (e.g., ''I wouldn't borrow money to pay for any energy saving equipment'') and the type of DSM programs in which a customer is interested. However, there was little evidence of differences in attitude or program preference across various segments of the commercial sector. All customer categories gave highest ranking to guaranteed savings programs and relatively low rankings to direct load control programs. Beyond the empirical results of the surveys, this project demonstrates that relatively low-cost, quick-turnaround market research techniques can provide valuable information for the design and promotion of DSM programs. The project also reinforces the need for each utility to design DSM programs in response to customer preferences, rather than concentrate solely on its internal objectives. 7 figs.

• Research Organization: Temple, Barker and Sloane, Inc., Lexington, MA (USA); XENERGY, Inc., Oakland, CA (USA); Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6187324
• Report Number(s): EPRI-EM-5252; ON: TI87920452
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
296000* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Electric Power
DEMAND
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENERGY DEMAND
MANAGEMENT
MARKETING RESEARCH
PUBLIC OPINION
PUBLIC UTILITIES
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
SURVEYS