Building public confidence in energy planning: a multimethod MCDM approach to demand-side planning at BC gas

Multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods are one means of quantifying stakeholder values, but the way such methods are usually applied can cause people to feel manipulated by a 'black-box' methodology. An approach is proposed to mitigate this problem, It asks each person to apply two or more methods and to then resolve disagreements in the results in order to build understanding. The approach recognizes that no single method is best for every person. We describe a successful application by a diverse stakeholder group. The results confirm that decisions yielded by alternative MCDM methods can disagree and that a multimethod approach builds insight and confidence. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.