Energy efficiency needs better messaging, panelists argue

Home service contractors will be key to America’s energy transition — but today’s energy efficiency messaging is failing to resonate, industry executives suggested during a recent webinar hosted by Canary Media.

What’s happening: While contractors are highly influential in encouraging customers to adopt high-efficiency HVAC equipment, key barriers limit momentum, argued Andy Frank, president of rebate-focused tech company Sealed. 

• “The biggest gap that we see in the market right now is… from a technical perspective, [contractors] not feeling confident in some of the newer technologies, and therefore not wanting to recommend it to their customers,” he said. 
• “And number two, not feeling confident in participating in [incentive] programs… because of the rules, the payment structures,” he added. “And some of them, frankly, have gotten burned in the past.”

Zoom in: The term “energy efficiency” is meaningless to consumers, said Paula Glover, president of nonprofit coalition Alliance to Save Energy. 

• “One thing that I’ve really learned in my career is that you don’t sell energy efficiency by talking about energy efficiency,” Frank noted. “Most of these kinds of products and measures are sold based on quality of life.” 
• Better storytelling and attentiveness to customer needs — affordability, health, comfort — may better encourage product adoption, Glover suggested. 

What they’re saying: “We as an industry have spent a lot of time telling people, ‘This is way too complicated for you to understand,’ and now we need them to understand,” she added.

Between the lines: Building on his point about program barriers, Frank emphasized to Homepros in a follow-up call that the issues come down to details. Incentive programs can be “pedantic” about “how the invoice needs to be structured [or] the quality of photos,” he said. 

• The harder it is to submit documentation, “the fewer contractors want to participate, because it’s just too much of a pain,” he added. 

Yes, but: Some states are aiming to improve the process. For example, in California and Wisconsin, customers can have their incomes verified for incentive programs without contractor involvement, Frank explained.

What we’re watching: Nationwide, energy efficiency programs should be easier for both contractors and homeowners to understand and navigate, panelists emphasized. 

• Melissa Washington, an SVP at Chicago-based utility ComEd, suggested that programs like her organization’s ‘Market Development Initiative’ could be replicated. (It provides whole home electrification to income-eligible customers — and trains technicians.) 
• “We’re helping retool them so that their skillset doesn’t become obsolete, so that they don’t continue to make recommendations of technologies that are not moving in the direction that we’re trying to move them in,” she said.  
• “I always encourage contractors to make their voice heard in all these program and policy conversations,” Frank added. “We need to make sure that the people that are designing these programs and setting these policies really understand what contractors need to be successful.” 

Full webinar