Business & Money

A new survey produces some surprising responses about investor attitudes.

As government agencies and industry experts report that the U.S. electric and gas infrastructure require significant enhancement and expansion, the electric and gas industries will need to turn to the private investor for massive new funding. A new survey from Deloitte and Touche (Deloitte & Touche National Survey of Individual Utility Investors) identifies both the demographics of the utility investor as well as the elements important to the investor when making the investment decision. We believe that this information will be valuable for regulators, who once again will need to look at the capital attraction standard in their utility ratemaking duties.

Typical Shareholder

The survey identified 501 individuals, or about 8 percent of the public, that owned electric or gas utility stock. Of these respondents, 61 percent were employed-close to the general population figure for employment of about 65 percent. Our respondent was more likely to be retired (26 percent) than the percentage of retirees in the general population (18 percent). The typical shareholder also is more likely to be male (61 percent of respondents), than female, given about a 50 percent balance in the general survey base. The demographics also show that utility stocks are owned by people of all age brackets and a broad range of incomes.