The NIPSCO Home Energy Report will introduce approximately 150,000 of NIPSCO’s gas and electric customers to an innovative energy-efficiency program. This program is part of NIPSCO’s ongoing focus to provide their customers essential information about their energy usage, to ultimately help them save energy, money and protect the environment.
NIPSCO has partnered with OPOWER, an energy-efficiency software company, which works with utilities to meet their efficiency goals through effective customer engagement. OPOWER’s objectives are to design, prepare and deliver the Home Energy Reports. Through the use of behavioral science and cutting-edge data analytics, the OPOWER platform enables utilities to connect with their customers in a highly targeted fashion, motivating reductions in energy use and increased program participation.
With this report, customers can view the past 12 months of their energy usage, and compare and contrast their energy consumption and costs with other customers in the same region, with similarly sized homes and demographics. The theory behind getting people to contribute to such an eco-friendly effort is based on the peer-proof theory that people take action when they have comparative information about what others are doing. The company believes that individually electric customer could save approximately 275 kilowatt-hours annually through simple behavioral changes, and by taking advantage of the energy-efficiency tips offered in the quarterly report. But collectively, NIPSCO customers who receive the report and are pro-active could save approximately 41,000 megawatt-hours annually- enough to power more than 3,500 homes. Customers are also expected to save more than $7 million on their utility bills, cumulatively, in the first year of the Home Energy Report program, and with a proven track-record as an energy efficiency resource, OPOWER's program will help NIPSCO reach their statewide energy efficiency goals of 2% by 2019.
To read the entire article, click here.
