Social norms and energy conservation
Hunt Allcott evaluates a pilot in which a company mailed home energy reports to residential utility customers. The reports compared a household's energy use with that of its neighbours and offered conservation tips. Using a randomised natural field experiment with a large number of treatment and control households in Minnesota, he finds that the monthly programme lowers energy use by a small share relative to baseline. In a group that received reports each quarter, the effect faded between letters and rose again when the next one arrived, which suggests that motivation or attention is malleable and does not last. He also shows how a statistical rule can be used to target households that respond most.
Hunt Allcott evaluates a pilot in which a company mailed home energy reports to residential utility customers. The reports compared a household's energy use with that of its neighbours and offered conservation tips. Using a randomised natural field experiment with a large number of treatment and control households in Minnesota, he finds that the monthly programme lowers energy use by a small share relative to baseline. In a group that received reports each quarter, the effect faded between letters and rose again when the next one arrived, which suggests that motivation or attention is malleable and does not last. He also shows how a statistical rule can be used to target households that respond most.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-11-04.
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Allcott, H. (2011). Social norms and energy conservation. Journal of Public Economics, 95(9-10), 1082-1095. doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2011.03.003.