Dive Brief:

• About two-thirds of U.S. homeowners will take on an efficiency project in the next year, and the biggest reason is cost savings, not the environment, according to a new survey highlighted by Energy Efficiency Markets this week.
• More than 80% of those taking on efficiency projects will be doing so to save money on energy bills, the winter 2016 edition of the HomeServe Biannual State of the Home Survey found.
• The findings may mean utilities can leverage financial incentives to help homeowners lower their usage, but the report concludes that strategy "will require significant, collaborative efforts between utilities and capable utility partners."

Dive Insight:

There are many reasons to undertake an energy efficiency project, but for homeowners, money is still the top motivator. HomeServe, which provides energy services and home repair, found in its recent survey that 84% of homeowners planning an efficiency project will do it to lower their bills.

“Despite the major issues discussed and debated on the national stage, the majority of Americans appear to be motivated by cutting costs to improve the financial wellbeing of their household,” Tom Rusin, CEO of HomeServe USA, said in a statement.

Among other findings: 42% of respondents say they expect their winter home energy costs to stay the same compared to last winter, while a quarter anticipate costs will decline.

HomeServe said in its Summer 2015 survey, just 10% of Americans expected a decrease in their home energy costs in the following 12 months. 

"The perception during the winter – which generally is a period of time that homeowners experience the highest energy bills – that costs are to decrease, could suggest that warmer global temperatures and a significant decrease in natural gas and oil prices have led Americans to be less concerned about heating costs," the company said. Seeming to back up that idea, 41% of respondents in the Northeast reported they expect winter energy costs to decrease compared to last winter. 

While environmental advocates may lament cost savings still topping the list of reasons to undertake efficiency projects, the report found that utilities could potentially leverage that to reduce overall demand.

"HomeServe’s survey results suggest that leveraging the financial benefits of energy savings to influence homeowners to be more energy conscious could be an effective strategy – one which will require significant, collaborative efforts between utilities and capable utility partners to support," the company said.

Correction: A previous version of this post stated that HomeServe found that 80% of efficiency projects would be undertaken to save money. That was incorrect. More than 80% of respondents who indicated they would take on an efficiency project this year said they would do so to save money.