ACEEE surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,801 American adults, including renters and homeowners, to understand household behaviors and preferences related to home energy use. This report shares our survey results and demonstrates how utilities, program administrators, and implementers can use behavioral science to more effectively market and promote residential electrification.

Key Findings

• Consumers who choose to switch home appliances to electric options when their system breaks cite their main reasons for doing so as the environment, health, safety, reliability, and perceptions of energy efficiency. For cooking, a key reason is that electric stovetops are easier to clean.
  
• Childhood experience with the electric appliance or heating/cooling system and belief in climate change are significant predictors of an individual’s desire to switch from nonelectric to electric heat, hot water, and cooking.
  
• The three most commonly perceived barriers to home electrification are high costs of electricity, perceived inefficiency of electric technologies (relative to nonelectric equivalents), and inferior cooking experience (for stovetops). These are partly based on myths and outdated information. 
  
• Owning electric lawn equipment is a potential gateway technology for electrification, especially for cooking. Further research is needed to explain this finding, but we believe this is because a positive experience with electrification leads to greater acceptance of future electrification measures. 
  
• Utilities, program administrators, and implementers should leverage behavioral science techniques and insights into consumer preferences to optimize their program design, marketing, and uptake (e.g., by offering lawn equipment electrification programs).
  
• Findings are based on a nationally representative survey of 1,801 U.S. homeowners and renters distributed representatively among all four major census regions.

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