General Information
Project description
Switzerland's Energy Strategy 2050 aims to reduce energy-related environmental pollution, for example by increasing the energy efficiency of individuals, households, and companies.
To help achieve this goal and raise public awareness of the issue, the Swiss energy provider Primeo Energie ran an energy-saving campaign (hereinafter referred to as the campaign) in winter 2023/24. Customers who consume significantly less energy in the winter of 2023/24 than in the winter of the previous year can receive a credit for every kWh saved. The aim is for customers to reduce their consumption by 15% between 1 December 2023 and 31 March 2024 compared to the winter of the previous year. Successful customers will receive a credit of 5 cents per kilowatt-hour saved. The behaviourally informed evaluation of the campaign was supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and SwissEnergy (ECH) and financed via the Swiss Energy Fund (Energiefonds).
The target group of the campaign were private households and companies, especially those who have not participated in any past energy efficiency measures or campaigns. Due to low participation numbers of the companies for this submission, the main analysis concentrated on the private households.
As part of this campaign, the Swiss federal Office for Energy (SFOE) commissioned a behaviourally informed study. It aimed to test the effect of participation in the energy saving campaign as well as various behavioural interventions (feedback & energy saving tips) in a robust experimental setup and their influence on the energy saving behaviours and perceptions of participants of the campaign. For this, participants were divided into four experimental groups (feedback, tips, feedback & tips, control). There was also an additional control group including non-participants of the campaign to serve as a baseline. Qualitative as well as quantitative methods, including analysis of smart meter data and four surveys, were used to test the effect of the behavioural interventions. This study was carried out by Affective Advisory.
The evaluation of the campaign is intended to serve as general information for energy suppliers who would like to carry out similar energy-saving campaigns in the future. In addition, the results can inform policy-makers to implement new efficiency measures for energy suppliers.
Detailed information
Final report: Is there a final report presenting the results and conclusions of this project?
Data Exclusion
The reasons for excluding data points varied. We excluded for instance missing data in the previous or current year, outliers in the meter readings, participants dropping out of the energy saving campaign, participants that relocated during the experimental period.
For the outliers in the Smart meter data, we disregarded data points that were 4 standard deviation above or below the average consumption & people/companies who consumed more/less than 300% compared to last year
Further, for the main analysis, we also disregarded the data from March 2024 (smart meter & survey), as there has been a technical issue with the behavioural intervention email in this month.
Treatment of Missing Data
We excluded participants that had missing data.
Additional information
Switzerland
Zürich, Bern & Basel (Basel-Landschaft)
Who is behind the project?
Project status:
Completed
Methods
What is the project about?
Date published:
10 October 2024