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The Research Team Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett, Professor of Marketing Dr Kate Letheren, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Charmaine Glavas, Senior Lecturer Dr Ryan McAndrew, Postdoctoral Research Fellow School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Professor Adam Clements, Professor of Econometrics School of Economics and Finance, QUT Associate Professor Geoff Walker, Associate Professor of Power Engineering School of Engineering, QUT Dr Rory Mulcahy, Lecturer Faculty of Arts, Business, and Law, University of the Sunshine Coast (USC)) Mr Rob Hudson, Managing Director Clemenger BBDO

The Project Team Reid Ossington, Commercial Projects Manager CitySmart

Graphics provided by Natalie Sketcher, QUT Visual Designer

Summer Saver Research Program:

Qualitative and Quantitative Phase

Summary Project Report

2019

This project that was undertaken by the QUT Business School, CitySmart, and the University of the Sunshine

Coast, with the assistance of Clemenger BBDO. This report was commissioned by CitySmart on behalf of CitiPower,

Powercor, United Energy, and RACV.

Quantitative phase: Online surveys were completed by key informants from 515 households. Qualitative phase: A total of four co-design workshops were conducted in Victoria with 31 households (41

participants). The data from these workshops were de-identified, collated, reviewed and analysed by the research team.

This summary outlines the key insights we gained from both phases of this study.

Background

Demand and Supply in the Australian Energy Market

Australians have always been aware of the importance of using electricity wisely. However, during peak times

supply and demand may not be balanced. For example, many people use electricity when arriving home from

work and cooking dinner, but fewer people use it during the day. Anyone who has used a bus at 5pm one day

and 1pm the next day knows how different demand can be at different times of day (and has probably wished

that demand would be more even!).

Electricity providers are looking for ways to provide a better balance in supply and demand for customers so

that they can ensure a safe and continuous supply of electricity. One of the challenges that remains to be solved

is that of ‘event days’ – days, often just hours, when the electricity demand exceeds network capacity and

creates an unstable electricity supply.

A method of dealing with the demand/supply issues on event days is called ’Demand management’. Demand

management can take one of two forms:

1) the customer voluntarily reduces how much electricity they use during a certain time period, often in

response to a text-message reminder from their electricity supplier

2) the electricity provider manually controls the usage of a certain appliance during a certain time period.

Time to Learn More

This project was commissioned to identify ways to increase participation of households for these two network

demand management strategies. It sought to understand the types of messaging, channels and engagement

preferred by the networks customers. From this understanding, the study generated insights and found that different households all have different approaches to how they would like to engage. These findings will offer support to policy development and consumer programs in the Australian market.

Other Research

Please feel free to bookmark the webpage and check back for more updates on this and our other projects:

https://research.qut.edu.au/servicesocialmarketing/

Summer Saver Research Project

Size of the Study & Demographics

Both phases of the research had a diverse group of

people participating. There were a range of household

structures, ages, and incomes. A comparison of the two

samples is presented below.

This research also categorised participants according

to household segments that the research team had

previously developed. The workshops were primarily

attended by Bee households, Ant households, and

Wallaby households.

The surveys also saw all six segments participating, with

a higher number of Bee, Geese, Wallaby and Ant

households.

A description of each of these segment groups is

available on the reverse of this summary document.

Please also have a look at the quiz on our website to see

which household persona best represents your

household.

We are grateful for to those participants who had input into this project. The findings will be used to assist the energy market to innovate in their delivery of electricity management programs. The research will also be published in academic articles to build the body of knowledge in this area and as part of teaching resources. Please feel free to contact us if you

would like further information.

Professor Rebekah Russell-Bennett [email protected]

Key Research Insights

Consumers want to stay in control

When it comes to using technology to help manage

electricity usage, the survey results indicated that

consumers prefer to be in control rather than allow

networks to control demand management. Workshop

participants also noted a ‘big brother’ effect. In part

this may be explained by uncertainty around how the

technology will work and whether there is the ability to override it, particularly for automated

technology.

There is room for support to engage

There may be room for programs to encourage more engagement with demand management, if

more consumers hear about these opportunities. The survey shows many have not heard about

(65.3%) nor participated in (73.3%) electricity management programs such as demand control. Yet

76% think such a program would offer value to their household.

Let consumers choose

In the current study, households had a variety of different ways in which they approached trade-offs

around electricity management and costs. It is important to offer households a choice for how they

will engage and which trade-off they could make. Households tended to feel more positive about

energy efficiency when they were in control of their own choices, and when being presented with

options they had not considered (for example, easier switches like charging appliances later in the

evening, rather than forgoing family viewing of favourite TV shows).

Peaks are schedule-centric

The findings suggest that electricity usage is highly ‘schedule-

centric’ (i.e., tied to the schedules and automatic habits of

household members). This means that households are not always

aware of their own electricity usage or even which appliances

draw electricity. The data reinforces the need to offer strategies

that support schedules without compromise.

Keep messages short and snappy – and (primarily) digital

When it comes to messages about electricity management, the workshops found that slogans with

the shorter lines with an added tangible benefit were preferred overall, opposed to lengthy and

complex slogans. Program messages should be short, snappy, and answer the ‘what’s in it for my

household?’ question without requiring consumers to hunt for or decipher information. Digital

channels were often preferred by consumers due to the immediacy of the information, and access to

real-time data and tips (please see the table below for level of interest in the different channels across

the segments.

Reduce effort

In terms of what minimises effort for particular

households, this again varies – some want SMS or email

reminders to ensure easy access, while others want to

feel that the information is trustworthy and

straightforward. To meet the needs of all households,

programs should ensure messages provide evidence, are

clearly presented, and allow choices.

“ “

The Ant Colony

The Beehive

The Flock of Geese

The Wallabies

The Domestic Cats

The Lion Pride

Segments

Using household segments previously developed by the research team, respondent attitudes and behaviours towards

energy use were profiled. Segments are a way of understanding the characteristics of certain types of household, and

use numerical data to create profiles. While not necessarily representative of everyone, most households will see some

of their characteristics reflected more in one segment than another.