Energy Vulnerability
Greg Guthridge is the EY Global Industrials and Energy Customer Experience Transformation Leader. He works with energy providers as they navigate the changing industry, helping to build innovative transformation strategies.
Nicholas Handcock is the EY Customer Experience Transformation Research and Strategy Leader. He oversees the ongoing EY Navigating the Energy Transition Consumer Research Program and works with energy providers globally to transform customer and employee experiences.
Energy affordability is in the spotlight, but the real story sits behind the headlines. A changing energy system, accelerating demand growth, and technology advances are impacting every aspect of consumers’ lives and reshaping what they expect from utilities.
For the past six years, Ernst & Young LLP has surveyed global energy consumers across diverse markets. Our latest study of nearly 20,000 residential consumers, including 2,000 in the U.S., makes for sobering reading.
Consumers are stretched like never before. Eighty-eight percent of respondents are spending more on energy than they have in the past, and more than half (56 percent of respondents) have changed discretionary spending behavior to pay energy bills.
Energy vulnerability is rising, with 26 percent of respondents now in energy poverty (spending more than 10 percent of their income on energy). Another 34 percent of respondents expect to face challenges paying their energy bills in the next year. Notably, some respondents worried about their ability to pay future bills are on high incomes and have never struggled with energy costs before.
See Figure One.