Field Experiment of Smartphone-based Energy Efficiency Services for Households: Methodology and Results of Hourly Electricity Usage Alert

Abstract

Energy data analytics and behavioral science knowledge are expected to improve the quality of information to promote energy efficiency behavior. Although there have been many studies on Home Energy Management System using in-home displays, few is known about the effectiveness of using smartphone apps as an information provision channel. This study proposes an automatic generation method of the hourly electricity usage alert based on smart meter data, which can also detect a period of high usage in 5-minute intervals. Moreover, we evaluate the impact of sending alert on electricity consumption by conducting a randomized controlled trial to smartphone app users.