Flash Eurobarometer 566 (Consumer Behaviour in the Energy Transition)

Consumer behaviour in the energy transition. Topics: trust in the provision of fair prices and reliable service by: energy market of the own country, own electricity and gas providers; attitude towards the following statements about own electricity and gas providers: easy to get in contact with in case of need for assistance or information, energy bills are easy to understand, easy-to-understand information about offers and promotions, are investing sufficiently in renewable energy sources; attitude towards the following statements about own electricity and gas providers: energy consumers in the own country are well protected, aware of which national authorities to turn to for assistance, more trust into an energy provider if committed to an officially certified code of practice on consumer rights; most important areas to make the energy market in the own country work better for consumers; frequency of tracking own energy consumption with regard to: electricity, gas; parts of own electricity and gas bills most difficult to understand: cost for each unit of energy, taxes and charges for maintaining energy infrastructure, calculation of the total amount to be paid, contract duration, none, all; last time of switching energy provider; ways to inform when choosing energy providers: in-person recommendations, recommendations on social media, ads from energy providers, news coverage about energy providers, directly on the website of energy providers, price comparison websites, reviews from consumer organisations, official information or campaigns from public authorities, other; most important reasons for most recent decision to switch energy providers; main reasons that stopped from switching energy provider in the last three years; most important factors when choosing a new provider (beside price); impact of economic vs environmental reasons with regard to changing personal energy consumption behaviour concerning: lowering heating or air conditioning use, running appliances like washing machines and dishwashers during off-peak hours, using smart devices to automatically schedule using appliances during off-peak hours. Demography: age; sex; nationality; own household is connected to natural gas grid; involvement in making decisions about energy providers in the household; type of pricing of household’s electricity contract; current housing situation; occupation; professional position; financial difficulties paying energy bills; household compositon and household size; own a mobile phone and fixed (landline) phone. Additionally coded was: respondent ID; country; type of phone line; region; language of the interview; nation group; weighting factor.