Home Energy Analysis v2
Home Energy Analysis v2 is a visual, interactive survey tool that prompts customers to answer simple questions about their home and energy habits. A customer's responses to the questions are used to create an energy use disaggregation of a customer's top three categories of energy use. The disaggregation is paired with personalized tips related to each top category, as well as a more granular breakdown of additional energy use categories. If sufficient AMI data is available, the feature can also include insights about a customer's individual appliances as well as their energy use for devices that are always on.
On this page:
Requirements
Utility Requirements
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Category |
Description |
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Required Cloud Service |
Same as listed in the product-wide requirements. The base requirement is to purchase the Digital Self Service - Energy Management cloud service. For any AMI enhancements in the appear in the product, the Digital Self Service - Energy Management AMI cloud service must also be purchased. |
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Scale |
No applicable scale requirements. |
Customer Requirements
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Category |
Description |
|---|---|
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Billing Frequency |
Monthly. |
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Data Delivery Frequency |
Monthly. |
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Data Requirements |
Minimum: Average energy use data for households in a utility's region. This data is typically obtained from public data sources. The feature then uses the customer’s responses to the survey to adjust the average energy use values and yield personalized results. This requirement applies to both the authenticated as well as pre-authenticated user experiences of the feature. Recommended: The recommended minimum is to use weather data and at least six historical bills, as this will provide more accurate results for annual as well as bill-level disaggregations. Without this data, only an annual disaggregation can be made available. AMI Requirements: There are additional AMI data requirements to show advanced insights such as appliance-level insights or insights about a customer's always-on devices. See always-on usage and appliance-level insights below for details, or contact your Delivery Team for more information. |
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Data History |
Varies depending on the utility's setup and configuration. At a minimum, the Home Energy Analysis requires utility-wide disaggregation percentages obtained from a public data source and approved by the utility. The percentages are then adjusted and personalized for customers based on their responses to the survey. If AMI data is used, then additional data history requirements may apply. |
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Data Coverage |
Varies depending on the utility's setup and configuration. |
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Supported Fuels |
Electricity, gas, and dual fuel. |
Limitations
- Non-Residential Customers: The Home Energy Analysis was built and optimized for residential customers. Non-residential customers such as commercial, industrial, and small and medium business customers are not currently supported.
- Customers with Multiple Accounts: To view the Home Energy Analysis for a particular account, customers must log in to the account through their utility's website, which provides access to the Web Portal through single sign-on. The Home Energy Analysis does not provide customers an option to switch between accounts.
- Survey Updates: If a utility updates the content of the survey by adding a new question, customers who have previously taken the survey are required to take the survey again from the start. The answers to questions they previously answered are pre-populated when the customer completes the survey again. The customer can click Confirm instead of re-answering the question.
- Deep Linking: Utilities are encouraged to support deep linking capabilities. Deep linking allows an unauthenticated user to click a link to the Home Energy Analysis from another part of the utility web site, log in with their credentials, and automatically continue to the intended page instead of being redirected to a landing page, such as the utility's home page.
- Feature Eligibility: Some customers may not be eligible for the Home Energy Analysis if their disaggregation has any of the following characteristics:
- There is only one category with a non-zero energy use value.
- There is one category that is greater than 90% of the customer's total energy use.
- The survey returns negligible energy use for all categories. ("Negligible" in this case means that based on the survey's back-end logic, no energy use is predicted to come from utility-supplied fuels or resources.)
- All service points have zero or negative costs or energy use.
- Customers with Electric Vehicles or Heat Pumps: Custom survey questions about electric vehicles (EVs) or heat pumps could potentially be added to the Home Energy Analysis survey, but responses to these questions will not impact a customer's neighbor selection. See Neighbor Comparison - Limitations for details.
User Experience
This section describes the user experience for dual fuel utility customers who are logged into their account and have not yet taken the Home Energy Analysis survey. Additionally, it describes customers who have enough data to see a bill-level and annual disaggregation of their energy use before completing the survey.
Pre-Survey
A customer can follow several different paths to the survey. The path taken depends on how the survey is promoted and configured. Below are some examples of common pathways.
- A customer follows a link in an Oracle Utilities Opower email communication (such as an Email Home Energy Report) to the survey.
- A customer signs in to the Web Portal, and then clicks a promotional banner on one of the pages or navigates directly to the survey (for example, by clicking the Home Energy Analysis tab).
- A customer visits their utility's website and clicks a banner promoting the survey, or signs in to their account and navigates to the survey by browsing the available links.
Onboarding Screen: Depending on the utility's configuration, an introductory onboarding screen can be presented to explain the energy breakdown, and to allow customers to view a disaggregation of their energy use before completing the survey. This screen lets customers bypass the effort it takes to answer questions and see results.
If the onboarding screen is enabled, it is only displayed once for customers who have either not started the survey or who have started but not completed it. For all subsequent return visits to the Home Energy Analysis, a customer will be presented with a disaggregation of their energy use.
Note: There may be cases when a utility launches the survey but decides not to enable the onboarding screen until a later time. If any customers complete the survey before the onboarding screen is enabled, they will not see the onboarding screen at a later time even though it is enabled.
The messaging in the onboarding screen varies slightly depending on whether the customer has AMI data or not. For customers with AMI data, the message will include language about a smart meter. For customers with non-AMI data, the message will include language about energy use patterns.
Survey Not Started: For customers who have not yet started the survey, the Home Energy Analysis displays information about the survey and provides the first question to begin the analysis. This messaging can include information on the estimated time it would take to complete the survey, as well as the benefits of completing the analysis. Customers who select to take the survey are directed to the full survey.
Survey Started, Not Completed: If the customer has started but not completed the survey, the pre-survey screen shows a progress bar and returns the customer to where they left.
Survey
The survey prompts customers with individual questions about their home and energy use. The user experience with the survey is the same as that described in Home Energy Analysis v1, except that when the survey is finished, an additional screen appears to thank the customer for providing answers. The messaging of this final screen varies slightly depending on whether the customer has AMI data or not. For customers with AMI data, the message includes language about a smart meter. For customers with non-AMI data, the message includes language about energy use patterns.
Disaggregation
After customers complete the survey, they are shown a disaggregation (also called a "breakdown") that displays their energy use divided into top three categories. The top three categories are followed by personalized tips and an additional list of end-use categories. Customers can take different paths to the disaggregation:
- If the onboarding screen is used, customers can click to see their disaggregation without taking the survey. The onboarding screen is only displayed once. This means that the next time a customer clicks to see the disaggregation, they are taken directly to it and will not be shown the onboarding screen.
- If no onboarding screen is used, customers must complete the survey before seeing the disaggregation. Customers must complete all of the required questions before the disaggregation can be displayed. Required questions cannot be skipped.
Title: The title of the widget reflects its focus on giving customers a more detailed view into how they consume energy. If there is not enough historical data for a customer to choose between an annual or bill-level breakdown, then the title changes to specify that it is an annual breakdown.
Time Period Selector: A selector is displayed at the top to let users choose between a breakdown for This Bill or Annual. If the annual time period is selected, percentage values are displayed in the breakdown. If the bill time period is selected, dollar amounts are displayed in the breakdown.
If there is not enough weather data and historical billing data to show a breakdown by bill period, then the time period selector is hidden, and the feature shows an annual breakdown only. (See the Customer Requirements above for more information about what is required to enable both annual and bill-level disaggregations.)
Insight Statement: An insight statement appears above the breakdown explaining where the customer used the most money or energy. The language of the insight varies slightly depending on different data states, such as whether the customer has completed the survey. It also changes slightly if there are only two top categories or if the insight focuses on usage instead of cost information.
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State |
Example Insight Statement |
|---|---|
| Survey completed | "Your top energy costs came from ..." |
| Survey not started or completed | "It looks like your top energy costs came from ..." |
Date Range: A date range is displayed at the top of the breakdown to communicate that the breakdown applies to a specific bill period. This information is hidden if the Annual time period is selected from the time period selector.
Cost or Usage Summary: A cost or percentage is displayed at the top of the breakdown to show how much of the customer's total cost or usage can be attributed to their top three categories. For example, when a bill period breakdown is shown, the summary might show "$123 of $159." If an annual view is shown, the summary might show "75%." These values are meant to reinforce the idea that the top three end uses make up a large part of the customer's overall usage or bill, not the full amount.
Note: The annual view can only show estimated annual usage percentages for each category rather than estimated annual costs. This is because a customer's bill periods do not align exactly with a 12-month period, and so the feature is unable to retrieve and calculate costs for that time period.
Top Energy Costs or Uses: The focus of the feature is a breakdown showing up to three top end-use categories. See End-Use Categories below for a list of all available categories. Each category includes the following elements:
- Category Name: Each category includes a name, such as "Cooling," "Water Heating," or "Electronics."
- Category Cost: Each category shows a cost rounded to the nearest whole dollar. The costs represent the portions of a customer's energy use in each category, and are not meant to add up to the customer's total bill. The breakdown can show percentages if cost information is not available. It can also show two categories instead of three. See User Experience Variations below for details.
- Category Icon: Each category is paired with a graphic so that customers have a visual reference and can more quickly understand the meaning of the category.
- Category Tooltip: A tooltip is displayed when a customer hovers their pointer over a category. The tooltip prompts the customer to view a personalized tip related to that category. Selecting the tooltip takes the customer to that tip lower on the screen.
- Category Order: The categories are shown from left to right, in the order of most expensive to least expensive. If the cost of two or more categories is the same, there is system logic to determine which ones are displayed, and in what order.
Personalized Tips: Beneath the top three categories is a set of tips related to each category. Each tip message includes:
- An illustration that allows customers to quickly recognize the concept or purpose of a tip.
- A short title that summarizes the purpose of the tip.
- A brief description of the tip and actions the customer can take.
- The estimated annual savings if the customer completes the tip.
- If applicable, a message about a rebate offer from the utility and a link to where the customer can learn more about the rebate. This is hidden if there is no applicable rebate.
- A link to more detailed information about the tip. See Ways to Save - Tip Details.
- A link to a tip guide containing tips about the top end-use category. See Ways to Save - Tip Guides.
More Energy Costs or Uses: Beneath the tips is a breakdown of the rest of the customer's end uses. The section begins with a cost or usage insight stating how much of the customer's overall usage or bill is attributable to the additional categories. The insight is followed by the list of end-use categories.
- Category Order: The categories are ordered from highest to lowest. The exception is the 'Other' category, which always appears at the bottom. If two or more categories have the same value, there is system logic to determine the order.
- Category Links: Users can hover each item in the list for a link to a tip guide related to that category. Upon hovering, the title of an item dynamically expands to include the word "tips." For example, when hovering over the Heating category, the title expands to say "Heating tips." When clicked, the link points to a tip guide called "Heating tips to help you save."
For the full list of categories that could be displayed, see End-Use Categories below.
Breakdown Explanation: Beneath the breakdown is a link to more details about how the customer's breakdown is determined. This is meant to educate customers about the method behind their breakdown. The explanation may prompt the customer to update their answers to the survey.
Feedback Prompt: A set of buttons can be shown beneath the breakdown allowing customers to provide feedback about the usefulness of the feature. See Customer Feedback for more information.
End-Use Categories
After customers complete their survey, they are shown a disaggregation (also called a "breakdown") of their total energy use divided into specific end-use categories. The table below lists the categories available and their supported fuel types.
If a customer does not have the required fuel type for a category, then the customer will not see that category. For example, a gas-only customer would not see the Cooling category since that category is only available for the electricity fuel. There are also cases in which additional rules are used to show or hide a category. If you need more insight about these rules, contact your Delivery Team.
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End-Use Category |
Supported Fuels |
|---|---|
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Heating: The impact of how a home is heated. |
Gas, Electricity |
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Cooling: The impact of how a home is cooled. |
Electricity |
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Appliances: The impact of common household items such as refrigerators and ovens. Depending on your utility's setup, configuration, and available data, this category may be the sum of several other categories (such as 'Dishwasher' and 'Laundry'). It will not be shown if an appliance-level disaggregation is shown. |
Electricity |
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Refrigerator: The impact of food storage appliances. |
Electricity |
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Oven: The impact of oven use. |
Electricity |
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Dishwasher: The impact of dishwasher use. |
Electricity |
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Laundry: The combined impact of a washing and drying machine. Depending on your utility's setup, configuration, and available data, this category may be the sum of several other categories (such as 'Clothes Washer' and 'Dryer'). |
Electricity |
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Clothes Washer: The impact of a clothes washing machine. This category is not shown if the 'Laundry' category is shown. |
Electricity |
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Dryer: The impact of a clothes drying machine. This category is not shown if the 'Laundry' category is shown. |
Electricity |
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Electric Vehicle: The impact of owning and charging an electric vehicle in one's home. Depending on your utility's setup, configuration, and available data, you may only be able to see a breakdown for Level 2-charged electric vehicles. |
Electricity |
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Lighting: The impact of lighting. This category accounts for devices like energy efficient bulbs as well as indoor and outdoor lights. |
Electricity |
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Water Heating: The impact of a water heating device such as a heat pump or conventional storage tank. Depending on your utility's setup, configuration, and available data, this category may show up as 'Electric Water Heating'. |
Gas, Electricity |
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Electronics: The impact of electronics such as TVs, computers, and DVD players. |
Electricity |
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Pool: The impact of owning and maintaining a pool. |
Gas, Electricity |
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Other: The impact of all other devices in a home that do not fall into a clear category. This may include small kitchen appliances, humidifiers, or medical devices. Note: 'Other' is never shown as a top end-use category since it contains uncommon devices that are hard to categorize. Even if the impact of the category is high (for example, a customer may use a medical device that consumes a lot of electricity), it will not be shown in top end-use displays. |
Electricity |
Smart Dashboard (HEA Light)
The Smart Dashboard or other utility-hosted web page can include a separate version of the user experience called Home Energy Analysis (HEA) Light. Customers viewing HEA Light are either encouraged to take the survey if they have not started (or not completed) the survey, or they are shown disaggregation results if they have completed the survey. Customers that select to take or continue the survey are directed to the full survey experience, which is hosted on a separate page. Depending on the utility's configuration, customers can also be shown the disaggregation before completing the survey.
User Experience Variations
Always-On Insight
If sufficient AMI data is available, an insight about "always-on" usage can display below the breakdown. The insight specifies the customer's estimated energy use in a bill period for devices that do not get unplugged, such as game consoles and security systems.
Within the insight is a Learn More link. When this link is selected, the widget refreshes and loads a detailed explanation about always-on devices. (Clicking the link does not open a web page with a new URL.)
Requirements
One historical bill and hourly AMI data for the bill period are required.
Appliance-Level Insights
If sufficient data is available and the proper configuration has been completed, the usage breakdown can display specific appliances as top end-use categories rather than a general "Appliances" category. For example, the breakdown can include categories such as laundry, dishwasher, refrigerator, or oven.
Requirements
Appliance-level insights require about one year's worth of AMI data at hourly or sub-hourly resolutions.
Embedded Experience
The Home Energy Analysis consists of multiple widgets that can be embedded within a utility's web pages. An overview of the widgets and the embedding guidelines is below. For details on how to embed widgets, see the Embeddable Widgets Integration Guide.
Fallback Tip
There may be cases where a top end-use category tip is not available. For example, a customer may have marked all tips related to a specific end-use category as "Done" or "Won't Do." In these cases, a generic fallback tip is shown, along with a link to a list of all available tips.
Gas-Only Customers
Gas-only customers can be part of gas-only utilities or dual-fuel utilities. The user experience can change for gas-only customers in the following ways:
Survey: The survey is modified to hide questions and results that are not applicable to gas-only energy use. For example, questions related to cooling, lighting, electronics, and electric vehicles would be hidden.
Disaggregation: The disaggregation can only show categories for which gas is a supported fuel type. For example, categories for cooling and appliances would be hidden. See End-Use Categories for a complete list of the categories available for each fuel type.
Higher Percentage for Appliances: Gas-only customers for dual-fuel utilities may see a percentage of energy use for their appliances that is higher than the actual energy use for those appliances. This is because the same baseline disaggregation percentages are being applied for all customers of the utility—customers who are gas, electric, and dual fuel. The baseline disaggregation percentages would therefore more closely align with dual fuel or electricity-only customers.
Two Categories: Gas-only customers may complete the Home Energy Analysis survey but still not have enough information to determine their energy use in three top categories. In such cases, two top categories can still be shown. See Two Categories below for details.
Always-On Insight: The always-on insight is not available for the gas fuel type, and so it will not display for gas-only customers.
Locale
This feature can display locale-appropriate language and units of measure. A few examples include:
- Some countries might use "flat" instead of "apartment," while others might use number of bedrooms as a measure of living space instead of square feet.
- Some survey questions might be modified or hidden to be more relevant to a utility or locale. For example, in countries where it is hot all year round, the question about heating your home might be hidden.
- Some survey answers might be unique to a utility's locale. For example, for utilities outside of the US, certain answers might specify different heating and cooling technologies that are common to that utility's country.
Mobile Experience
The experience of the Home Energy Analysis for smaller mobile screen sizes consists of the same components as the desktop experience. However, the layout changes to fit the smaller screen size by stacking the components vertically.
Note: In Home Energy Analysis v2, the mobile breakpoint is based on the container size as opposed to the whole browser window. This means that the tablet view may be displayed in the desktop view if the widget is embedded within a container that has a small width. This could happen, for example, if the survey is embedded on a utility website in which the container size is smaller than the minimum width of 1025px needed to display the desktop version of the widget.
Multiple Accounts and Service Points
If a customer has multiple accounts, the customer can view the Home Energy Analysis survey for a different account by clicking an account selector hosted on the utility website. All embedded widgets are then reloaded with data for the specified account.
If customers have multiple service points associated with their account (for example, one for electricity and one for gas), then the survey and the disaggregation behave as expected. However, note that the user interface does not display a menu for switching between individual service points.
If a customer has two or more service points of the same fuel type (for example, if there is one service point for regular electric usage and another for an electric vehicle), there are several limitations. The survey can be completed, but the disaggregation is limited to an annual disaggregation based on average energy use data for households in a utility's region. A bill-level disaggregation cannot be shown, and more advanced insights and personalization based on AMI data are not supported. Contact your Delivery Team if you have any questions.
Percentage-Based Breakdown
Cost values are shown in the breakdown by default. However, if cost information cannot be calculated for the top three categories, then the feature falls back to a percentage-based personalized breakdown. In this case, the insight shows percentage values, and the insight statement emphasizes where the customer's top energy uses came from. The percentages represent the major portions of a customer's entire energy use, and are not meant to add up to 100%.
Pre-Authenticated User Experience
In some cases, customers can access the survey without logging in to their utility account. For example, customers who receive Email Home Energy Reports can follow a link from within the email to begin the survey, which includes a token to automatically identify the customer. If the customer navigates directly to the survey rather than following a link from an email communication, they are prompted to provide their billing account number and their full name as it appears on their bill.
After completing the survey, customers can view the energy use breakdown the same way that an authenticated user can. All survey responses are saved for the user account and are available to the customer when they log in to their account. Differences in the user experience include:
- Links are provided for the customer to create an account or log in to their account.
- Only an annual breakdown with percentages can be shown. A bill-level breakdown containing more personalized cost information is disabled to protect a customer's privacy. (A customer can still view their bill-level disaggregation if they sign in to their account.)
- Personalized tips for the top end uses cannot be shown.
- Links to tip guides for the More energy uses section cannot be shown.
- The background color of the top three categories section is 20% lighter than the primary color. This is meant to convey that the pre-authenticated experience is not the complete experience.
- If a user has previously started but not completed the survey and clicks a link to it from an email communication or the web, they are taken directly to where they left off in the survey.
- If a user has completed the survey already and clicks a link to it from an email communication or from the web, they are taken directly to the disaggregation.
There are a few known limitations in the pre-authenticated experience. The limitations include:
- Customers who follow a link from an email to the HEA is provided with a token that only authenticates the customer for the HEA. If a customer tries to navigate to another widget, they will need to first sign in (or create an account). The ability to navigate to another widget will also depend on what navigation is shown on the pre-authenticated HEA pages. It is possible that there will not be any navigation to another widget availabe if the HEA has been embedded on a utility-hosted webpage.
- A Create Account button is displayed in the pre-authenticated disaggregation even if a customer has already created an account. The button cannot be hidden for customers who already have an account. This is because the token that identifies a customer does not include enough information to determine whether or not the customer has already created an account.
Solar Customers
The Home Energy Analysis is supported for solar customers. For utilities that have a lower amount of data (for example, utilities that do not have sufficient customer usage or weather data), the disaggregation is based on the coefficients that adjust based on known customer attributes that are mainly provided when a customer completes the Home Energy Analysis survey.
For utilities that have more advanced data capabilities (for example, utilities that have enabled Oracle Utilities Opower appliance detection capabilities), there are fallback strategies in place. These fallback strategies are necessary until the underlying data models for appliance detection have been trained on solar households. In this case, utilities should work with their Oracle Utilities Opower Delivery Team to determine the best method for identifying solar customers and adjusting the disaggregation for them.
Two Categories
If customers complete the Home Energy Analysis survey but there is still not enough information to determine their energy use in three top categories, then the top two categories can still be shown. This experience is only the case for gas customers, since the number of end-use categories that can be displayed for the gas fuel type is much shorter than for electricity customers. See End-Use Categories above for a complete list of the categories available for each fuel type.
If there is only data for one category or less, an error message is displayed.
Calculations
Disaggregation / Energy Use Breakdown
To calculate the energy use disaggregation (also called an "energy use breakdown") for a customer, the Home Energy Analysis begins by obtaining the average end-use percentages of all utility customers in a utility's service territory. These percentages are obtained from a public source and are aggregated to serve as baseline values; they are not personalized to each individual customer. These average, baseline values represent the typical energy use of a home in a utility's service territory. For many utilities in the U.S., data is available for the following energy use categories: Space Heating, Cooling, Hot Water, Appliances, Lighting, Electronics & Other, and Pool.
The Home Energy Analysis calculation then uses each customer’s responses to the survey to adjust the baseline values and yield personalized energy use percentages. Each answer option is associated with a multiplier, which represents whether the customer uses more, less, or the same amount of energy as the average household in a given energy use category, based on that particular response.
For example, the question “Do you turn off lights when nobody is in the room?” has the following response options: Always, Sometimes, and Never. “Always” has a multiplier of less than 1, since that customer is likely to spend less electricity on lighting than a customer who never turns off the lights. “Sometimes” has a multiplier of 1, since it was determined to be the average behavior, and “Never” has a multiplier greater than 1.
Recalculations: The disaggregation calculations are run dynamically each time the user accesses their energy breakdown.
Bill Period Cost Calculation
After customers complete the Home Energy Analysis survey, they are shown a disaggregation that displays their energy use divided into three top categories, followed by personalized tips and an additional list of end-use categories. If sufficient data is available, customers can see how much money each end-use category costs for a given bill period.
The first step in this calculation is for the feature to determine the percentage of energy consumption for each end-use category. For example, based on the customer's answers in the survey, the feature may determine that the Electric Vehicle category accounts for 15% of a customer's total usage.
Next, the Home Energy Analysis multiplies the percentage of each category by the total usage charge for the bill period. Continuing with the example above, let's say that the total usage charge for the customer's bill period is $300. The cost calculation would be:
Electric vehicle usage (15%) * total usage charge ($300) = $45
This means that the Home Energy Analysis disaggregation would show that the customer's Electric Vehicle usage accounts for $45 of the total $300 in the last bill period.