Behavioural strategies to reduce energy consumption and promote
sustainable habits received increasing attention from economic,
psychological, and social sciences. Among these, social norm-based
interventions have been proposed as effective tools in psychological
research. In this study, we employ a randomized control trial (RCT) to
assess the effectiveness of a social norms intervention to encourage
energy-saving behaviors among members of an energy cooperative in
Italy (N = 442). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three
groups. The first group, the descriptive social norm group, received
messages showing the average energy consumption of cooperative
members to encourage behavioural change. The second group, the
injunctive + descriptive social norm group, received messages
combining average consumption data with additional messaging
emphasising societal expectations for energy conservation. The third,
which served as the control group, received no norm-based messaging
and acted as a baseline for comparison. Results show a significant 13 %
decrease in electricity consumption among participants exposed to the
descriptive social norm message, compared to those in the injunctive +
descriptive norms and control groups.