Research from Accenture ACN revealed that over half of the world’s energy consumers would consider installing residential renewable energy solutions or solar panels over the next five years – or even purchasing an electric vehicle in 10 years.
Accenture’s annual New Energy Consumer research, Architecting for the Future surveyed more than 13,000 individuals in 26 countries and found that a majority of customers are interested in a range of next-generation home and energy solutions from their energy provider, including advice on energy efficiency. Around 71% of consumers believe that their energy provider could do more to help them reduce their energy bills and only 21% said that they were comfortable with the reasons provided for recent price increases.
Residential alternative products and services are continuing to see a heightened interest, from 7% to 57% by 2020, according to the study. “While specialized providers are consumers’ default choice for solar panels and connected-home solutions, energy providers are currently a very close second,” said Greg Guthridge, Managing Director in Accenture’s utilities industry group. “Despite moving into the home energy market, big-box retailers, phone and cable companies, and online retailers rank much lower.”
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