Local energy advice centres in France: quite active but how effective? An evaluation of local energy actions in France

Eliane Métreau and Kenya Tillerson, International Consulting on Energy (I.C.E.), France

Keywords

local energy advice centres, qualitative and quantitative assessment, outreach actions, households

Abstract

In 2001, ADEME, the French Environmental and Energy Management Agency, launched the nationwide network of local energy advice centres called Espace Info Energie or EIE. Today, the EIE network has 187 centres and 340 energy advisers.

According to their charter, EIEs have two assigned missions:

to provide free and neutral individual advice to the general public, organisations and small companies;
to carry out outreach and information activities, by holding conferences and workshops, organising on-site visits, participating in fairs and exhibitions, etc.

The paper focuses more strongly on the activities carried out in the scope of the second mission between 2004 and 2005 in three regions of France. The evaluation is based on a quantitative and qualitative assessment which concerned 1 610 actions. The quantitative assessment presents the distribution between the type of actions, the nature and number of the targeted population, treated themes, etc. The qualitative evaluation aims at assessing the beneficiaries’ knowledge and involvement in energy efficiency and renewable energy before and after the action, EIEs’ notoriety and image among the public, the level of satisfaction and the impact of the services delivered. Around 500 beneficiaries were interviewed on-site and through telephone surveys.

The paper will discuss the evaluation results in particular in terms of the EIEs image, the number of individuals reached and actual investments realised. Finally, it will highlight possible areas of improvement: which themes and actions should be reinforced, which public has been neglected, how to strengthen the public’s motivation to act and invest.