Date
Monday, November 13, 2023
Time
5:15 PM - 6:45 PM
Name
The Voice of the Energy Customer: Findings from an Annual Survey
Session ID
Poster Presentations
Track
Social Science Insights
Duncan Ward
Description

We present findings from Uplight’s fourth annual nationally representative Voice of the Customer survey, which measures green energy-related attitudes and behaviors of American utility customers. The survey covers three topic areas: (1) utility engagement and satisfaction, (2) attitudes and uptake of green energy technology, and (3) familiarity with and use of utility programs. Taking stock of utility customers’ energy purchases, perceptions, and beliefs is more important than ever given the potential that issues such as climate change, grid reliability, smart home technology, and increased funding for energy efficiency have to reshape the ways in which customers relate to their utilities. We find that in spite of the large, ongoing shifts to our energy systems, attitudes toward utilities, green technologies, and programs across the four years of the survey have remained stable and weak, with some fluctuations but not overwhelming patterns of change, and average responses around the midpoint of scales. These findings indicate that customers’ attitudes towards their utilities, utility programs, and green technologies are yet to be solidified, indicating a powerful opportunity for intentional messaging in these areas to scale customer support. Year-by-year, customer trust in their utility to provide certain services has remained significantly related to utility satisfaction and program participation, indicating that messaging that works to build this trust with customers may be particularly impactful to improving utility perceptions and engagement.