“On the one hand, you want to be like everyone else. On the other hand, you want to be better than everyone else.” That’s Vlades Griskevicius, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, explaining to the BBC the psychology behind home energy reports (HERs).

One million households in the U.S. now receive HERs either monthly or quarterly. The reports compare energy use in households with similar demographics and home size, so that residents can see how their energy use measures up against their neighbors.
Puget Sound Energy saw an immediate reduction in energy use within 48 hours of releasing their HERs. Pilot projects in California and Minnesota saw energy use drop an average of 2.5%.

Households with high energy consumption show the largest improvements over time, because they’ve got a lot of opportunities to be more efficient, and households who’ve already taken steps to become efficient get smiley faces – recognition from their utility company that they’re making meaningful decisions.

As reported previously, the costs of change for many households is around $1500. Short of raising energy costs to bridge the gap to action, many utilities and local governments are trying to influence behavior in other ways, such as with these HERs. Most changes reported include switching out light bulbs, turning off computers at night, and adjusting thermostats. Some households made or began planning to make bigger efficiency investments in their appliances and windows, but most of the conservation gain so far has been in the small changes in behavior that the HERs highlight in their graphs and smiley faces.

Some programs are considering cancelling HERs to see what that does to energy consumption. A big part of the HER success will be it’s ability to influence long term change.