Email Home Energy Report FAQs

What is the purpose of the program?

Most people are eager to make their home more efficient and save money, but they're not always sure how. The purpose of program is to provide more information about your energy use so you can make informed choices and save money. We welcome your feedback.

How was I selected to be a part of this program?

You were randomly chosen to receive communications from the eligible households in our service area.

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Why are you trying to make me feel bad?

We are not trying to shame or judge you. If we have offended you, it was not our intent. Rather, we hope that the information we provide can offer valuable insights and context about your home’s energy use so that you can save energy and money. We have joined other cities and utilities across the country to provide these reports because they have been proven to help households effectively save.

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What are normative comparison modules?

Normative comparison modules compare a customer against themselves (for example, their past energy usage) or their neighbors. The modules are designed to motivate customers to understand the underlying causes of the differences in each comparison and subsequently reduce energy. The type of normative comparison included in a report varies by program design and report type. For more information about the neighbor comparison, see Normative Comparison FAQs.

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What is the purpose of the Benchmark module?

Note: This FAQ is only applicable to customers on Email Home Energy Reports v3, which includes the Energy Benchmark module.

The benchmark provides a dynamic, personalized, at-a-glance view of your energy use, and a preview of what you can expect to see in the rest of the report.

The benchmark takes on different states depending on how efficient your behavior is compared to similar homes within the billing period:

  • Fair: The customer is using more than Similar Homes.
  • Good: customer is using more than Efficiency Zone / Efficient Neighbors threshold, but less than Similar Homes.
  • Great: The customer is using less than the Efficiency Zone / Efficient Neighbors threshold.

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What is the purpose of the What Uses Most module?

Our research has shown that even customers who want to become more efficient often are held back by misconceptions as to how energy use is distributed throughout their homes. We've seen that household-level energy breakdowns are useful in helping customers figure out where to focus their energy efficiency efforts for max energy and bill savings.

The What Uses Most module highlights the top five energy uses in your home for the report period and pairs it with a related energy-savings tip to help understand how you are using energy in your home and how you can save. All estimates are based on your past energy use, weather patterns, and home characteristics.

Note to CSRs: See Disaggregation FAQs for more information about how the What Uses Most breakdown is calculated.

Can you remove the What Uses Most module from my report?

We've seen that household-level energy breakdowns are useful in helping customers figure out where to focus their energy efficiency efforts for max energy and bill savings.

I cannot remove the module from your report; however, you can opt out of this program and stop receiving reports altogether.

Note to CSRs: See Can I opt out of this program?

What do you do with the feedback I provide through the report?

We ask for customer feedback so that we can better understand the needs of our customers and make the reports as useful as possible.

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Can I opt out of this program?

The purpose of the program is to help you. Over time participants have been shown to save energy and money, and we want to help them do the same. However, you can opt out in a number of ways. The options available will depend on your utility's setup and program design.

Would you like me to opt you out now? I can also provide you with instructions to opt yourself out at a time that is convenient for you.

Instructions for CSRs:

Action

Steps

Opt the customer out of the program

 See Managing Home Energy Report Preferences.
Provide the customer with opt out instructions
  • From the web: The recommended method is to use the Digital Self Service - Energy Management Web PortalAccount and Preferences section to change your preferences. If you unsubscribe in this way, you will be able to subscribe again in the future.

Note: Some utilities choose to host their own account services. If your utility does not offer the Digital Self Service - Energy Management Web Portal as part of their program, contact your utility for more information about account management.

  • From an email: Click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email and follow the instructions to opt out.

Warning: If you click Unsubscribe in the email and then click to unsubscribe from all emails, this action is permanent, and you will not be able to opt back in. If you click to opt out of Email Home Energy Reports only, then you can opt back into them at a later time.

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