According to a recent survey, one in six U.S. consumers, or 17%,say they can now choose their energy suppliers. However, only 2%have actually changed providers.

“In probing the reasons surrounding the switching decision, weheard most consumers saying that energy companies still pretty muchall look alike,” said Charleen Heidt, vice president of RKSResearch & Consulting, a national market research and publicopinion polling organization. “At the present time, customers seevery little difference between one supplier and another. But thedata suggest they will respond to a compelling offer from adifferent entity that sets itself apart from the pack. Our findingsindicate that few energy companies are reaching out proactively totheir residential customers; the early entrants who do so mayrapidly build market share.”

On the gas side, the U.S. Department of Energy’s EnergyInformation Administration found in a June survey that a total ofabout 8% of the residential gas customers in the country areactively choosing gas suppliers other than their local utilities.EIA determined that while 45% of the nation’s residential gascustomers are now eligible to buy gas from alternative suppliersonly about 18% (or about 1.8 million people) of those eligible (9.3million) are doing so.

There is a wide variance in participation levels among consumerswho have a choice of gas suppliers. “In some states, such asNebraska, 97% of the eligible residential and commercial customersare electing to choose their own suppliers. In other states, suchas Indiana and New York, participation is 2% or less of thoseeligible,” EIA noted in a survey summary.

For its survey, RKS interviewed 999 heads of households duringMay and June and conducted consumer focus groups in Boston,Pittsburgh, Houston, and San Diego. The survey found widespreadsatisfaction with customers’ current energy providers, with 75%saying they would recommend their supplier to others. And 43% saidthey are very likely to remain with their present supplier whenthey have a choice. Loyalty drops off quickly — to less than 20%— among households with frequent outages or billing and serviceproblems with their supplier.

RKS found that more than a third of U.S. consumers believederegulation and increased competition will make investing inenergy securities more attractive. Of those surveyed, one in 10currently holds stock in one or more electric utilities or holdingcompanies. Customers who are more critical of their electricityservice and profess less loyalty to their current provider believederegulation will increase the investment outlook for energystocks, RKS said.

Joe Fisher, Houston

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