The government’s drive to promote awareness of energy switching appears to be failing after the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s public attitudes tracker revealed just 6% of those surveyed had firm plans to switch.
The most recent wave of DECC’s attitudes tracker was released this morning and revealed that even though 24% of respondents admitted to being very or fairly worried about paying their energy bills, only 6% said they intended to switch in the next year whereas almost two-thirds (59%) said that they would not be switching.
The survey was conducted in late September, before DECC’s much-publicised energy savings week which focused predominantly on switching, but after a tranche of efforts from the government to increase awareness whilst making it easier for consumers to switch.
It also backed up initial findings from an ongoing Competition and Markets Authority investigation into the sector which found that the most likely group to switch were more affluent groups, particularly those with an average income of between £35,000 and £49,999 per year.
Central to this could be the apparent trust in current energy providers to bill consumers appropriately. Around 68% of those surveyed said they trusted their supplier to provide an accurate bill.
But while the UK government’s switching efforts appear to be failing, consideration for energy savings and waste remains high. More than 71% of those surveyed said they had given at least some thought to saving energy in their own homes, with just 28% admitting to have not given it any thought.
The survey also uncovered that just 7% of those surveyed knew the EPC rating of their house.
