Record High Electricity Rates Still Not Enough to Get Customers Thinking About Sustainability
March 24, 2023 -- Electricity bills in the United States rose 13.1% on average in 2022, higher than the overall rate of inflation. Concurrent with this trend, utilities have introduced aggressive carbon reduction goals and sustainability initiatives that rely on customers reducing their energy consumption through a combination of time-of-use rates, energy-saving appliance rebate programs and more.
In fact, 81% of electric utility customers are now served by a utility with a stated carbon reduction target. Despite this decade-long push to change emissions by spurring customer participation in these programs, many customers are completely unaware that energy conservation and sustainability programs even exist. Is the recent run-up in electricity prices proving the catalyst to finally change consumer behavior?
According to the latest J.D. Power data, even record high energy prices haven't been enough to spur a significant increase in awareness of energy conservation and sustainability initiatives. However, a handful of utilities are starting to see their investments in sustainability pay off in the form of improved customer satisfaction and increased perceptions of affordability among customers. While these examples are in the minority, they offer a playbook for strategies that are working when it comes to consumer awareness of utility sustainability initiatives.
Ultimately, our research finds that utilities with a clearly stated sustainability goal, a concerted plan to achieve that goal and widespread support for that plan among customers are slowly changing customer behaviors and perceptions. These examples are rare, however, and the vast majority of electric utilities and utility customers are largely in the dark on sustainability and energy conservation initiatives - even as record high prices are hitting their wallets each month. Without a dramatic change of course, these utilities will struggle to meet their sustainability targets.
Record High Residential Electricity Prices Decoupled from Sustainability
Customers in the U.S. are notoriously sensitive to changes in commodity prices and those changes often influence behavior. We see this trend prominently in our automotive data set, where incremental movements in the price per gallon of gas are directly correlated with consumer interest in electric vehicles, and, conversely how those rising fuel prices negatively affect the sale of large, gas-powered SUVs. The same cannot be said, however, for the correlation between rising electricity prices and consumer participation in utility energy management programs.
In fact, according to our data, just 14% of residential electric utility customers participated in one or more energy management programs offered by their utilities in 2022, a rate that was unchanged from 2020. Perhaps even more surprising, the number of residential electric customers participating in one or more price reduction or rebate programs, such as those offering discounts for using energy-efficient appliances, actually declined one percentage point between 2020 and 2022.
Read full story here.
Source: J.D. Power
--------------------------------------------
Upcoming conferences organized by SGO:
Utility-Scale Energy Storage Forum, April 18-19, 2023 | Chicago
8th Grid Modernization Forum, June 13-14, 2023 | Washington, D. C.
3rd EV Charging Infrastructure Summit - North America, July 11-12, 2023 | Chicago
17th Microgrid Global innovation Forum - EMEA, September 26-28, 2023 | Barcelona
Customer comments
No comments were found for Record High Electricity Rates Still Not Enough to Get Customers Thinking About Sustainability. Be the first to comment!