The Social Power App has the following main objectives:
- Turn household members into engaged consumers of their own energy use by combining gamification and a collaborative or competitive game environment between neighbours
- Improve consumption awareness of app users with real-world challenges and self-learning tools for efficient energy consumption and improving energy system knowledge;
- Make energy visible through real-time monitoring from smart meters of electricity use and user-friendly graphics;
- Improve communication between electricity utilities and household members
Household participants were either assigned to a collaborative gameplay context with a fixed goal 10% electricity savings target collectively with their neighbourhood team, or a competitive gameplay context where neighbourhood teams compete to save the most electricity.
The Social Power App integrates electricity-saving challenges, tips and quizzes in order to motivate participants to earn points and reach the electricity savings and participation goals. Smart meter data complements the user experience by showing hourly and weekly electricity consumption which is directly compared to their own historical consumption and their team’s savings performance. While completing challenges on the App, participants learn how to positively improve electricity use in their household.
A look into the App
1. Energy monitoring interface: reports the energy consumption by hour and the weekly average
2. Game statistics: showing current challenges, the user’s own progress and points, as well as the points compared to others.
3. Energy Tips: a full set of tips organized by household appliances and weekly topics on how to use energy at home in a more aware and sustainable way.