Q01
Message
All templatesNonprofit & Civic
Community Microgrid Attitudes & Governance Preferences Survey
Measures resident support for community microgrids, preferred ownership models, participation willingness, and priority tradeoffs. Designed for municipal planners and civic organizations assessing community readiness for local energy infrastructure.
Sample questions
A preview of what’s in the template. Every question is editable before you launch.
21 questions · ~10 min
Q02
Multiple Choice
How familiar are you with the idea of "microgrids"?
- Very familiar
- Somewhat familiar
- Heard the term, not sure what it means
- Not at all familiar
Q03
Opinion Scale
If your community proposed building a microgrid within the next 3 years, how much would you support or oppose it?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Strongly opposeMax:Strongly support
Q04
Multiple Choice
Which ownership or management model would you most prefer for a community microgrid?
- City or public agency ownership
- Electric utility ownership
- Community cooperative
- Private company under regulation
- Public–private partnership
- Not sure
Q05
Multiple Choice
If a community microgrid were offered locally, how would you prefer to participate? Select up to three.
- Join as a subscriber or customer
- Host rooftop solar and/or a battery if eligible
- Allow use of smart thermostat/appliances for demand response
- Share my energy data for planning (with privacy safeguards)
- Attend community meetings or advisory group
- Prefer not to participate
- Other (please specify)
Q06
AI Interview
We'd like to understand your views on community energy in a bit more depth. An AI interviewer will ask you a couple of follow-up questions based on your earlier answers.
Q07
Dropdown
What is your age group?
- 18–24
- 25–34
- 35–44
- 45–54
- 55–64
- 65+
- Prefer not to say
Q08
Message
Thank you for participating! Your input will help inform local energy planning and community engagement on microgrids. Results will be shared in aggregate with community stakeholders.
Q09
Message
For this survey, a microgrid is a local energy network with its own power sources (such as solar panels) and storage (such as batteries). It can operate with the main electric grid or independently during outages to keep power on for a neighborhood, campus, or critical facilities.
Q10
Opinion Scale
How likely would you be to recommend a community microgrid project to your neighbors?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Not at all likelyMax:Extremely likely
Q11
Opinion Scale
How much do you trust your local electric utility to operate a community microgrid effectively?
Scale: 1 – 7
Min:Do not trust at allMax:Trust completely
Q12
Ranking
Please rank the following priorities for a community microgrid from most to least important.
- Reliability during outages
- Affordability for households
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- Fair and inclusive access
- Local decision-making
- Speed of deployment
Drag to rank
Q13
Long Text
Based on your responses in this survey, is there anything else local officials should consider about microgrids in your area?
Q14
Multiple Choice
How do you describe your gender?
- Woman
- Man
- Non-binary
- Prefer to self-describe
- Prefer not to say
Q15
Multiple Choice
What concerns, if any, would you have about a local microgrid? Select all that apply.
- Higher utility bills
- Equity or fairness across neighborhoods
- Noise or siting impacts
- Privacy or data-sharing concerns
- Visual impact of equipment
- Distrust in the organizations running it
- Prefer other community investments
- Not enough information to decide
- No concerns
- Other (please specify)
Q16
Multiple Choice
If a microgrid provided at least 4 hours of backup power for key services during an outage, what change to your monthly electric bill would be acceptable to you?
- $0 (no increase)
- Up to $5
- $6–$10
- $11–$20
- More than $20
- Not sure
Q17
Multiple Choice
Which best describes where you live?
- Urban
- Suburban
- Small town
- Rural
- Prefer not to say
Q18
Multiple Choice
Which potential benefits of a community microgrid matter most to you? Select up to three.
- Improved reliability during outages
- Lower monthly energy bills
- Cleaner local energy
- Local decision-making and control
- Economic development and local jobs
- Resilience for critical services (e.g., water, shelters)
- None of these
- Other (please specify)
Q19
Dropdown
What is the highest level of education you have completed?
- Less than high school
- High school diploma or GED
- Some college or associate degree
- Bachelor's degree
- Graduate or professional degree
- Prefer not to say
Q20
Dropdown
What best describes your current employment status?
- Employed full time
- Employed part time
- Self-employed
- Unemployed and looking for work
- Unemployed and not looking for work
- Student
- Homemaker or caregiver
- Retired
- Unable to work
- Prefer not to say
Q21
Multiple Choice
What is your current housing situation?
- Own my home
- Rent my home
- Live with family or guardians
- Other
- Prefer not to say
What’s included
AI follow-ups
Adaptive probes on open-ended answers that pull out detail a static form would miss.
Attention checks
Built-in safeguards against rushed answers and low-quality respondents.
AI-drafted copy
Wording, ordering, and branching written by the AI — tuned to your research goal.
Auto report
Themes, quotes, and a plain-English summary write themselves once responses come in.
How it compares
We reviewed the closest templates from other survey tools. Here’s what they do well — and where this template goes further.
Why this template
- Includes an AI follow-up interview segment that lets residents elaborate in their own words on community energy attitudes, beyond fixed-choice answers
- Combines opinion-scale, ranking, and multiple-choice questions to capture nuanced tradeoffs (trust in utilities, ownership models, priority ranking) that static satisfaction surveys don't structure this way
- Captures demographic context (age, housing situation, employment, education) alongside attitudinal data, enabling municipal planners to segment readiness by resident profile
- Ends with an open-text prompt asking what local officials should know, giving qualitative signal that feeds into an auto-generated report
SurveySparrow
Resident Satisfaction Survey TemplateThis is a general resident satisfaction template aimed at municipalities or property managers, not an energy- or microgrid-specific instrument. It's a fielding-ready static form covering broad community services, so it would need substantial rebuilding to address microgrid ownership models, backup-power tradeoffs, or utility trust. Useful as a generic community-survey reference point rather than a direct competitor on this specific topic.
What it does well
- Ready-to-deploy template aimed at municipal/resident audiences
- Likely supports standard survey logic and reporting typical of SurveySparrow's platform
- Positioned for local government or community-management use cases
Where it falls short
- No indication of adaptive AI follow-up questioning to probe individual resident reasoning
- Not tailored to energy infrastructure topics like microgrid ownership models or backup power priorities
- No transparent, publishable methodology for how responses are scored or interpreted
SurveyMonkey
HOA Survey Template: Questions for HomeownersThis template is built for homeowners associations gauging resident sentiment on community rules and amenities, which overlaps only loosely with municipal energy-infrastructure planning. It's a static, fielding-ready questionnaire rather than anything microgrid- or governance-of-infrastructure specific. Best viewed as an adjacent community-feedback format rather than a true topical competitor.
What it does well
- Established, ready-to-use survey format for homeowner/resident feedback
- Likely benefits from SurveyMonkey's broad distribution and analytics tools
- Familiar structure for gauging community sentiment on local issues
Where it falls short
- No adaptive AI interview or voice-AI component to explore resident reasoning in depth
- Content is oriented to HOA governance topics, not energy infrastructure, ownership models, or backup-power tradeoffs
- No automated per-response quality scoring or transparent prompt methodology disclosed
Frequently asked questions
What questions are in the “Community Microgrid Attitudes & Governance Preferences Survey” template?
The template includes 21 ready-to-use questions, starting with: “Welcome! This brief survey (about 10 minutes) asks for your views on community energy options. There are no right or wro…” · “How familiar are you with the idea of "microgrids"?” · “If your community proposed building a microgrid within the next 3 years, how much would you support or oppose it?”. The full set is previewed above, and every question is editable.
How long does this survey take to complete?
Respondents typically finish the 21 questions in about 10 minutes.
Can I customize this template?
Yes — every question, answer option, and the ordering is editable before you launch. You can add or remove questions, or ask the AI editor to rework the survey around your research goal.
Is this template free to use?
Yes. Open it in the editor and start customizing right away — no account required to try it, and the free plan covers launching your survey.
Ready to launch?
Open this template in the editor. Every part is yours to change before the first respondent sees it.
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