Power Plants vs. Saving Energy: Changing Behavior in a Low Engagement Environment

GSummit 2014 Wayne Lin, Sr. Director Product Management

We have an energy

problem

What if we didn’t use

all that energy?

Why isn’t this

working?

So what can we

do?

Opower: A big data customer engagement

platform for the world’s leading utilities

Working with

93 utilities in

8 countries to engage

32 million homes

500 OployeesWashington DC | San Francisco

Tokyo | Singapore | London

Big data

customer

engagement

platform

Data + Behavioral Science

vs.

Power Plants

Energy usage data

Reads/Year

12Reads/Year

35,0003000xMORE DATA

Many different approaches to

meeting demandLevelized costs of electricity resource

options

The price of power skyrockets

at peak times

$300

$250

$200

$150

$100

$50

$0

$/M

Wh

2A

M

4A

M

6A

M

8A

M

10A

M

12P

M

2P

M

4P

M

6P

M

8P

M

10P

M

12A

M

PJM Day-Ahead, Wholesale Electricity

Prices

1100INCREASE(from lowest point)

Power Plant

Improve customer

relationships

Sustained energy savings

Peak demand reduction

(demand response)

Opower Customer Engagement

Behavioral Energy Efficiency &

Demand Response

email

IVR

SMS

mail

email

$203/kW-yr

$25/kW-yr

NOx

CO2

CO

SO2

VOC

s

Zero

Emissions

20-40%

Efficiency

100% Efficiency

Rapid pre-event communication

Significant reduction at peak

Sustained energy savings

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Today

4.2TWh

9GWh

53GWh

204GWh

773GWh

1.9TWh

$470Min consumer

bill savings

2.9Mtons of CO2

abated

Delighted utility customers

55%64%

73%

62%

72%76%

My utility wants to help me save money

My utility wants to helpme reduce my

home energy use

My utility is a trustworthysource of information on

energy efficiency

Control Opower recipients

Data + Behavioral ScienceWins!

1. Get my attention

2. Help me make a decision

3. Help me follow through with an action

When to use behavioral science?

1. Hey designer, get my

attention

(I dare you)

Social norming

We don’t like to be out of the norm.

Loss Aversion

The pain of giving up an object is greater

than the joy associated with acquiring it.

Collection/completion

We are motivated to complete or correct.

2. Hey designer,

Help me make a decision

Social proof

We do things that other people (like us) are

doing.

People’s decisions are influenced by how

options are presented to them.

• Anchoring

• Priming

• Defaults

Choice Architecture

Select your thermostat temperature

Priming

We can be influenced by things we see

before making a decision.

3. Hey designer,

I want to do this. help me follow

through!

Commitments

If we commit to a goal, we are more likely to

honor it because it’s now part of our self-

image.

Plan-making

We’re more likely to follow through if we’ve

unpacked a plan.

Use social proof

Ask users to commit or make a plan

Frame options as a loss

Apply choice architecture

Appeal to collection/completion tendencies

When to use behavioral science?