Consumers Like Their Utility & Want Solar

Electric Companies Favored Over Telcos, Cable

Survey of 1,000 utility customers points to transformation

Electric utility customers generally are high on their local utility provider but are eager for them to see them become more aggressive champions of solar power, a new survey shows.

A robust 55 percent of 1,000 consumers rated their utility’s customers service “8”, “9” or “10” on a 10-point scale, according to the November survey by DEFG on behalf of the Utility Customer Research Consortium.

The survey, just made available to The Energy Times, reported: “Between one-fourth and one-third of consumers feel that they are getting comparatively better value from their electric company as compared to other service providers such as cable, internet, mobile phone, and landline providers.”

And on the solar front, the report said: “Approximately half of the respondents were very interested in using solar power that was owned by either them or generated by another provider. Additionally, half of them said they would be “more interested” if that “other provider” turned out to be their local electric utility.”