As news continues to circulate about rising energy costs in the UK, price comparison site uSwitch has discovered that a number of consumers have very little trust in their current energy supplier.
The research has revealed that only 40 per cent of consumers expressed a level of trust, whereas just ten per cent have developed more trust for energy providers in the past two years. More startlingly 45 per cent have now lost trust.
One of the biggest reasons for a lack of faith in the larger energy companies is that value for money is poor. Some 48 per cent believe their energy supplier is currently charging more money than necessary, with 37 per cent reporting low levels of openness and transparency as another factor for this.
Energy companies have been under the spotlight in recent months, due to reports of record costs and spiralling energy bills for consumers. More and more people are now looking for a new cost-effective method of powering their home.
In addition to this, the government’s emphasis on reducing nationwide carbon emissions has brought decreasing greenhouse gasses and wasted energy further into the public consciousness. Programmes such as the Green Deal and the feed in tariff (FiT) have also made it more attractive for consumers to access carbon cutting technology.
All these reasons have made it easier and more beneficial for consumers to access measures such as insulation or solar panels in order to provide a more cost effective and environmentally friendly way to run the household.
Businesses have also been disappointed at how energy suppliers seem to neglect their needs, thus causing disproportionate rises in energy bills which reduce their monthly profits.
Solar panels in this instance could be particularly useful, as businesses can often allocate more panels to larger commercial buildings in order to generate more profit via the FiT.
By taking up this technology, less reliance can be placed upon larger, untrustworthy energy companies and reductions in energy bills can be made.