Abstract
This paper reviews electricity consumption feedback literature to explore the potential of electricity feedback to affect residential consumers’ electricity usage patterns. The review highlights a substantial amount of literature covering the debate over the effectiveness of different feedback criteria to residential customer acceptance and overall conservation and peak demand reduction. Researchers studying the effects of feedback on everyday energy use have observed substantial variation in effect size, both within and between studies. Although researchers still continue to question the types of feedback that are most effective in encouraging conservation and peak load reduction, some trends have emerged. These include that feedback be received as quickly as possible to the time of consumption; be related to a standard; be clear and meaningful and where possible both direct and indirect feedback be customised to the customer. In general, the literature finds that feedback can reduce electricity consumption in homes by 5 to 20 percent, but that significant gaps remain in our knowledge of the effectiveness and cost benefit of feedback.
Highlights
These include that feedback be received as quickly as possible to the time of consumption; be related to a standard; be clear and meaningful and where possible both direct and indirect feedback be customised to the customer
The only feedback received by many Australian households on their electricity consumption is their quarterly electricity bill [1]
The information and the frequency of the Australian electricity bill have changed little in several decades [1]
Summary
The only feedback received by many Australian households on their electricity consumption is their quarterly electricity bill [1]. The information (energy consumption per tariff, a comparison of consumption from previous billing periods and total owed for the current billing cycle) and the frequency of the Australian electricity bill have changed little in several decades [1] This largely un-itemised, non-visual and infrequent feedback on their electricity consumption has been likened to driving cars without any information on the volume or price of fuel consumed and instead receiving a non-itemised invoice at some time in the future for the combined fuel consumption of all family vehicles [2]. Consistent throughout the majority of feedback literature is the finding that feedback is linked to a conservation effect [12]
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