Powering up a savings plan in California

By CHRIS DANIELS

When California - the economic, cultural and agricultural powerhouse of the United States - begins to run out of electricity, things can get very nasty indeed.

In late 2000, a drought in the Pacific Northwest coupled with bungled deregulation and a lack of new generation meant California faced a power crisis.

Wally McGuire, director of the state's energy conservation campaign Flex Your Power, has been in New Zealand as a guest of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority.

And he has the credentials - the Californian campaign led to 33 per cent of all homes cutting their energy use 20 per cent or more, and an 8 per cent drop in the state's power use in 2001.

During his stay in New Zealand he has been surprised at constantly being asked about "fatigue" and how tiresome it must be for people to be constantly asked to save electricity. After all, his California campaign, which includes TV commercials, has kept going, two years after the crisis passed.

McGuire does not buy the idea of fatigue.

"This assumes that they are being asked to do something hard," he says.

"People like to be reminded of it - we've continued our TV spots for another two years because they think it's a good thing.

"They like to have their kids reminded; they like to save money. It just isn't seen as a hard thing to do."

Fatigue starts when people feel they are being lectured to, says McGuire.

"This was the most severe energy crisis California had ever faced. We were heading into the summer of 2001 expecting 36 days of rolling blackouts in a four-month period, costing US$16 billion worth of economic loss."

That got people's attention.

"We made the decision - which at the time seemed counter-intuitive but now I think was the best decision we made - which was, 'Let's do this campaign, but let's do it in a way that is sustained on a long-term basis.

"Had we approached it by saying, 'We have a crisis and you have to suffer to get out of it' ... you get tired of that really quickly and say, 'It's not my fault, it's somebody else's fault'.

"We used TV, radio, newspaper, outdoor - a regular-style advertising campaign that was, of course, the most visible part of it.

"But we also had 13 other initiatives. That was the air campaign; this was the ground campaign."

McGuire says such campaigns must be long-term because "social marketing and behavioural change" take at least three or four years to start happening.

"You don't have to do it at a huge expense, but you must keep reminding people to do it."

When the energy crisis hit California, the first reaction of many was to start pointing the finger and working out who was responsible.

The big energy companies, the politicians, the greens ... all were blamed for causing the shortage.

McGuire and his team had to get everyone pulling together, leaving the recriminations and political bloodshed for another day.

"We made a conscious choice at the beginning. There was no lecturing at all. Everything we did, we created Switzerland - it's a neutral country; we're all in this together."

One problem faced by the PR-marketing campaign was that people thought they already knew enough to get by and were already doing everything they should.

McGuire says a survey taken at the start of the crisis found that 98 per cent of the population said they were already conserving electricity and had enough information about how to do it.

The traditional advertising campaign had "at least as good" an impact as all the other initiatives pitched at different groups, he says.

A well-orchestrated public relations campaign involved staggered announcements from various sectors, so that in one week, for instance, the state governor would advertise a 27 per cent power saving, followed a week later by the Bank of America giving its results.

McGuire says a low-level power savings campaign had to continue between each "crisis" to avoid starting from scratch again.

"Keep it going and it saves money. It's the right thing to do," he says.

"It doesn't have to be expensive. Just continue to have behavioural change.

"It's only fatiguing if it's irritating and it's hard to do. It's not hard to do. It saves you money."

The campaign

Title: Flex Your Power

Client: State of California

Aim: To promote more efficient energy use by Californians and achieve long-term behaviour change.

Duration: 2001-ongoing

Budget: US$57.4 million in 2001. Information not available for other years.

Results: 8 per cent fall in energy use statewide in 2001. Avoidance of expected blackouts.