Energy Use Benchmark

The Energy Use Benchmark module provides a personalized, at-a-glance visualization of the customer’s energy use. It consists of three sections of a gauge to indicate the customer's overall status as it relates to their energy use: Fair, Good, and Great. The customer's status on the gauge is determined by their performance relative to both comparison points in the neighbor comparison.

Note: The Energy Use Benchmark module must be used in context with the Efficiency Zone or the Neighbor Comparison.

Appears in: Progress Report, Welcome Report, Limited Income Report, Annual Report, Time of Use Report, Solar Report, Usage Lookback Report

Requirements

Category Description
Billing Frequency Monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly.

Data Delivery Frequency

Monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly.

Data Requirements

Billed usage data from the utility.

Data History

A minimum of one historical bill.

Data Coverage

Not applicable.

Supported Fuels

Electricity, gas, and dual fuel.

User Experience

The Energy Use Benchmark module provides a personalized, at-a-glance visualization of the customer’s energy use. It consists of three sections of a gauge to indicate the customer's overall status as it relates to their energy use: Fair, Good, and Great.

Image of home energy use benchmark module

Heading: The heading notifies the customer that the benchmark gives them an at-a-glance view of their energy use. It varies according to the customer's fuel type.

Energy Use Benchmark: The benchmark gauge is broken into three sections: Fair, Good, and Great. A customer's status on that gauge is determined by their performance relative to both comparison points in the normative comparison (similar homes and the efficiency zone). A customer's performance is indicated with an arrow that sits in the middle of a given segment of the gauge. Each state has a corresponding color:

  • Orange: Fair. Customer is using more than Similar Homes and Efficiency Zone / Efficient Homes.
  • Yellow: Good. Customer is using less than similar homes, but more than the Efficiency Zone / Efficient Homes.
  • Green: Great. Customer is using less than the Efficiency Zone / Efficient Homes threshold.

Benchmark Copy: Depending on the customer's current state and any differences since their last report, the copy below the gauge tells the customer how they can leverage the report or recognizes a change in state. In some instances, the benchmark copy re-emphasizes the customer's fuel type.

User Experience Variations

The user experience varies for customers depending upon their service types, available data, costs, and locale. Note that the following list indicates the primary user experience variations, not all possible variations.

Usage Lookback Report Variation

The Benchmark module in Usage Lookback Report provides an at-a-glance rating of the customer's gas use from all available bill periods over the previous gas season.

eHERv3 Benchmark module for the Usage Lookback Report for a gas client

The benchmark module used in the Usage Lookback Report varies from the standard Progress Report in several ways:

  • Heading: The heading reinforces to the customer that this report encapsulates a whole gas and heating season instead of a single bill period.
  • Time Period: The benchmark module collates the customer’s energy usage data from all available bill periods over the gas and heating season to provide an at-a-glance rating of their usage.
  • Benchmark Copy: The language acknowledges past gas use and looks to shape future action.
  • Benchmark States: See Usage Lookback Report Benchmark States.

Energy Use Benchmark States

The copy below the gauge changes depending on the customer's current state and any differences since their last report.

States for the Progress, Welcome, Limited Income, and Time of Use Reports

  • Good State: Explains how to use the report.
  • Low to Higher Use State: Helps the customer consider what may have changed.
  • High to Lower Use State: Congratulates the customer for lowering their use compared to neighbors.
  • Great State: Congratulates the customer for being efficient
  • Fair State: Explains how to use the report
  • Fuel Type The customer's fuel type is displayed in the header and benchmark copy, "Your <fuel variation> use at a glance."
    • Dual Fuel: The benchmark header uses the term 'energy.'
    • Electric-Only: The benchmark header uses the term 'electricity' and the benchmark copy uses the term 'energy.'
    • Gas-Only: The benchmark header uses the term 'gas.'

States for the Annual Report

The Benchmark module in Annual Report collates the customer’s energy usage data from all available bill periods over the previous calendar year to provide an at-a-glance rating of their usage.

  • Heading: The heading identifies the year being reported. For example, "Your 2021 energy use at a glance."
  • Benchmark Copy: The text below the benchmark has an annual focus that introduces the customer to the goals of the report by acknowledging past and future actions. For example, "Thanks for tracking your energy use with us. Let’s get you saving this year!"

States for the Solar Report

The Benchmark module in the Solar Report includes unique copy and logic for net negative energy states experienced by solar customers. There are four energy states:

  • Fair: Net energy was positive and more than similar homes.
  • Good: Net energy was positive and less than similar homes, net energy was negative and more than similar homes, or net energy was negative and more than efficient homes, but less than similar homes.
  • Great: Net energy was positive or negative and an efficient home.
  • State Change (Higher Use to Lower Use): Benchmark state has changed from Fair to Good or Good to Great since the last report.

States for the Usage Lookback Report

The benchmark copy below the gauge changes depending on the customer's current state. Possible states include:

  • Fair: Thanks for tracking your gas use with us. Let’s get you saving for next gas season!
  • Good: Great Job! Let’s get you saving even more next gas season.
  • Great: Great job being efficient! Let’s see how low your gas use can go next gas season.

Dog-Ears

For customers on the legacy version of email Home Energy Reports, a dog-ear visual element corresponding to the "energy use at a glance" bullet of the Welcome module appears in the upper right corner of the Energy Use Benchmark module. This can only appear in the Welcome Report and Limited Income Report.

Back to Top