Energy Companies Compare Customers
Using peer pressure, bills grade customers compared to their neighbors.
Feb. 15, 2009— -- The Dyer family's appliances always seem to be running. Whether it's the washing machine, dishwasher or blow dryer, their four children are regularly adding to their power bill.
So when the Sacramento Municipal Utility District mailed Greg Dyer a report card complete with a failing grade and a frown face for using more energy then his neighbors, it felt like he was in school again.
"I thought, 'You gotta be kidding me,'" he said. "It seemed a little childish to me."
Sacramento's utility company, known as "SMUD" to the locals, compared the Dyers to 100 of their neighbors in similarly-sized houses. SMUD hoped to tap into the age-old quest to "keep up with the Joneses" -- but in this instance, pushing customers to use less than their neighbors, and grading them.
Dyer said it wasn't a shock that his bill last April was higher than normal.
"It goes up in spring cause my wife teaches swimming," he said.
The Dyers have made a conscious effort to save energy by installing more efficient appliances, updating their heating and air conditioning and shutting down their pool pump during the winter months.
But the idea of being rated by a utility that Dyer complains is often "less than reliable," rubbed him the wrong way. He viewed it as HIS opportunity to rate SMUD, which "fails to keep the power on with the slightest breeze."
He e-mailed SMUD four frown faces back.
SMUD customer Tamara Kaestner had a different reaction after seeing her report. She discovered that she and her husband were using more than three times the energy of their neighbors.
"I opened it up and there was these bars that said, you know, average, and your neighbors and then me -- and I was just in shock," said Kaestner. "I thought, 'There must be a big hole in my house that's just sucking the energy in.'"
An in-home energy audit by SMUD revealed that her waterfall, fish tank and TIVO all were wasting watts. The detailed analysis tabulated exactly how much money each electrical item cost her monthly.
