When Utility Week unveiled plans for our ‘New Deal for Utilities’ campaign in January – to discover what might be done to forge a new social contract with the public and what support utilities would need to achieve that goal – we knew consumer views would be key.
Gauging the public’s true sentiment about water and energy companies – including whether they should be nationalised and if so why – led to us commissioning an exclusive survey about consumer satisfaction with utilities by Harris Interactive.
It was no secret when we launched that the public mood towards water and energy businesses was changing, thanks to a growing populist swell of consumers concerned about operating models, records on leakage and resilience and high levels of executive pay. A legitimacy crisis had led to the now very real prospect of renationalisation.
The snap poll taken in December aimed to establish the real state we are in. And there were some heartening findings for energy and water bosses, including that, contrary to what many may believe, more than half of those surveyed were not greatly dissatisfied with their utility companies – satisfaction being highest for water suppliers at 66 per cent. Nor did they greatly mistrust suppliers, suggesting that the service they currently receive is reasonably good.
Nevertheless, there were warning signs too for those providing the UK’s lifeline water services, electricity and gas supplies, and electricity networks, as the figures showed almost half of customers undecided over satisfaction.
Some other key findings:
- rising prices cited as the number one reason for undermining trust
- around a third, 32 per cent of respondents, felt utilities should be nationalised, although almost a quarter, 23 per cent, were undecided.
- 14 per cent thought utility companies should be owned and managed by private companies – the same number as those who thought it was a job for local government.
- 34 per cent would be more likely to vote Labour based on their policy of nationalising utilities, whilst over half said it would make no difference to their vote.
- the main benefits of nationalising utilities were perceived to be cheaper and better services.
- the major concern about nationalisation was “it costs too much, and we can’t afford it,” (the answer selected by a third of consumers).
- generally, consumers lack an informed view on the pros and cons of renationalisation
- despite the push towards renewables, over half of those polled were not prepared to pay more for their electricity to speed up the transition.
- customers and wider consumers were still unclear about exactly what makes up their final bills.