"we set our thermostat appropriately" Hmmm, what does THAT mean to you? What make you think there is a direct correlation between energy use and how you jerk your thermostat around? "Could it be possible to just lower a little the "average customer" to force more people to consume less?" Jaime Buelta Great point. Exactily why "average" is completely bogus. We need granularity so you can compare to the neighbor of YOUR choice. http://bit.ly/gainsvillegreen "You've tricked me into becoming obsessed with understanding and reducing my household energy consumption." I'm in the energy efficiency field, referred to as a "Subject Matter Expert" by a statistical analysis friend, and help people save 30-70% on their energy use. Here's my "opportunity" calculator: http://bit.ly/Homescale People have absolutely the wrong intuition when it comes to saving energy. I'd love to talk to you about this and invite you to contact me.