Planning, implementing, and evaluating energy hotlines : profiles and guidelines

During May-June 1981, telephone interviews were completed with 45 of 56 identified energy hotlines in the United States. Responses given during the interviews were used to develop profiles along 7 planning variables (planning time, purpose, reason established, services, target audiences, others' experience, and staff training) and 10 operating variables (years in operation, operating hours, staff size, service area, publicity, agency type, duration, status, evaluation efforts, and log data) which were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Total, annual, and monthly data also were collected from the hotlines on operating costs and number of calls received; data on 4 external variables were obtained on annual cooling and heating degree days, annual energy prices (residential retail for gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, and VI electricity for 1976-1980), population of the area served according to the 1980 census, and °F deviation of temperature from the monthly norm. Thirteen hypotheses were tested in which call volume was the dependent variable and independent variables were either manager-controllable [operating costs and Hotline Index of Publicity Efforts (HIPE)] or manager-monitorable (degree days, energy prices, population, and temperature deviation). Guidelines were developed by which hotline managers could estimate annual call volume based on external events and manipulate calls received based on costs and publicity.

With few exceptions, hotline services are operated by state and federal agencies and thus may represent a direct return to the taxpayer on investments by assisting in a reduction of energy consumption and hence energy costs. Operating costs for the typical hotline in operation 32.5 months totalled $167,000 ($48,000 in 1978, $64,000 in 1979, and $83,000 in 1980). Mean calls received totalled 64,400 (25,600 annually or 1,600 per month). Cost-per-call averaged $7.33 and ranged from $1.26 to $31.24; by the fourth year of operation, cost-per-call can be expected to drop below $3.00 and approach $1.00 by the sixth operating year.

The typical hotline relied the most on agency literature for publicizing the hotline number. Radio was the mass medium used most frequently, followed by newspapers, and then television. The hotline staff participated in displays and energy fairs at least once a month. On a scale of 0 to 100 (HIRE), all hotlines averaged 48. State energy offices dominated sponsorship of general information and energy conservation hotlines; specific topics tended to be handled by federal agencies, universities, and other state agencies.

Population accounted for 69% of the variance for annual calls and 66% of the variance for total calls; operating costs accounted for 31% of annual call variance and 18% of total call variance. Population and costs together accounted for 96% of total call variance (no interaction was found) and 80% of annual call variance (20% interaction, with ^Beta_pop ^{= .729 and Beta}_costs ^{= .351}). All hypotheses tested using population and costs were significant at least at p < .01 and so were not rejected. Simple r² for HIPE (.05), heating degree days (.02), gasoline price (.05), heating oil price (.03), and electricity price (<.01) were not significant at p < .05 when regressed on annual call volume. Temperature deviation regressed on monthly call volume was significant at p < .05, but accounted for only 1.5% of the variance; months in operation (1 to 100) accounted for 5.5% at p < .0001.

Additional research on energy hotlines will expand the data base to include: (1) utility hotlines so that comparisons can be made between government and nongovernment services; (2) 1981 cost and call data so that predictive equations can be tested; and (3) data on nonenergy, noncrisis hotlines as comparison services. Future studies will focus on developing reliable energy savings indices for hotline clients, details of publicity efforts and impacts on hotline use, and evaluation methodologies which can be replicated by individual hotlines.