THE CONSUMERS ENERGY ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENT

This article describes how residential energy consumers measure and analyze their own energy consumption and energy costs. Using in-depth interviews, we find more extensive data collection and analysis by residential energy consumers than has been previously documented in the energy literature. However, the conclusions consumers can draw from their analytical efforts are restricted by the form their analytical efforts are restricted by the form in which they receive price and consumption data and their limited analytic capabilities. The relative information processing strengths of consummers are compared with those of institutions such as energy utilities, leading to the conclusion that many of the analytic tasks are currently assigned to the less efficient parties, degrading decision quality and creating a market barrier to energy conservation. We suggest a more efficient allocation of data collection and analysis between the consumer and energy utility.