Shock to the System
This year, we developed a specific piece of research to understand consumer attitudes and concerns in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This research was conducted in two parts – a survey of 1,059 consumers and discussion groups with 60 consumers across three groups.
The key findings include:
- Around half of people (49%) say they have more concern about their ability to pay household bills since the Covid-19 pandemic started with the number rising to 71% for those who have lost work during the crisis.
- Electricity bills were the top cost of living issue for consumers with 73% rating electricity one of their top-3 concerns, ahead of groceries (56%) and housing costs (50%).
- 67% of energy decision-makers expect an increase in their electricity bill this year.
- 20% of energy decision makers say they have already requested financial assistance to pay their electricity bill. Of these half (10%) received help which was useful, and half (10%) did not receive help that was useful.
View the the quantitative survey results and a qualitative report on consumer discussion groups.
Report: Shock to the System: energy consumers experience of the Covid-19 crisis the numbers
Report: Shock to the System: energy consumers experience of the Covid-19 crisis in their words
