August 2003 Tracking Study
Overview…
To date, the Texas Electric Choice Consumer Education Campaign has had significant success and impact. And, while Customer Education activities have declined recently, the current levels of public awareness and knowledge have been maintained. Awareness among residents has increased by ten percentage points over last year. And, importantly, “depth of awareness” has moved from 23.3% to 77.9% in the current research. Knowledge of important electric choice characteristics has also increased and attained established goals.
Methodology…
Using qualitative research design, The Center for Research & Public Policy completed 1100 interviews within 183 competitive counties in Texas. In addition, CRPP completed another 400 interviews with businesses within the same 183 counties.
All telephone interviews were conducted August 25 - 30, 2003.
On Awareness…
Awareness of electric competition among Texas electric residential and business customers increased slightly between May and August 2003. Three quarters of residential survey respondents, 75.9%, reported hearing, reading or seeing something about competition or deregulation in Texas. This is up from 66.8% recorded in 2002, and 75.6% in May 2003. Additionally, a majority of business respondents, 84.8%, suggest having heard, read or seen something about deregulation. This is up from 79.6% recorded in 2002 and 83.8% in May 2003.
Depth of knowledge is increasing. Residential respondents who report knowing a “great deal” or a “moderate amount” about electric competition increased to 77.9% in August 2003 – up from 74.4% in May 2003, 62.0% in 2002, 34.3% in 2001 and 23.3% in 2000. Among businesses, a significant decrease occurred in moving to 77.9% from 80.1% in May 2003.
The top three sources for neutral, unbiased information on electric competition in Texas are reported by aware residents continue to be the news media, the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and consumer groups. However, consumer group percentages have dropped significantly over the past year.
Only slightly increasing numbers of survey respondents are reporting the public education campaign should continue three years or fewer. For residential customers, the number of respondents reporting three or fewer years moved to 63.0% from 61.5% in May 2003 and 59.8% in 2002. Among businesses, the number moved to 64.4% from 66.3% in May 2003 and from 63.5% recorded the previous year.
On Perceptions…
Positive perceptions of electric competition in Texas declined since May 2003. Currently, more than two thirds of all residential (65.1%) and business (62.3%) respondents report their view toward electric competition is either “very” or “somewhat positive”. Among residents, this number is down from 69.1% in May 2003, 64.0% in 2002 and 48.3% recorded in 2001. For business respondents, this number is down from 68.3% in May 2003 and 57.6% recorded in August of 2002.
Those respondents, both residential and business, holding negative views of electric competition continue to do so because the topic is “too confusing”, “there is an insufficient amount of savings” and they “just don’t see the benefit”.
On Interest…
Interest among residential customers has remained consistent with previous studies (77.9% in August 2003, 76.2% in May 2003, 75.3% in 2002, and 71.8% in 2001). Interest among businesses has experienced a slight decline to 80.3% from 81.8% in May 2003.
On The Market…
When asked what factors might lead them to switch to a Retail Electric Provider (REP), the top four responses provided by both residential and business respondents include: “lower price”, “good customer service”, “renewable energy”, and “additional information on competition in Texas”.
“Lower price” has declined steadily since August 2002, as a reason or factor for switching to a new Retail Electric Provider among residents surveyed.
On Knowledge…
Residential respondents reporting they “could make an informed decision today”, regarding their choice of a retail electric provider, has dropped slightly to 10.3% from 10.5% in May 2003 and from 11.9% in 2002. This number however, still remains higher than 6.9% and 4.8% recorded in 2001 for August and March respectively.
When asked a series of ten true and false statements regarding current knowledge of electric competition in Texas, the average for correct responses among the ten questions is 7.73 among residential survey respondents and 7.80 among business respondents.
On The Process…
Two thirds of residential and business respondents suggest choosing a new retail electric supplier is a “very easy decision” or “somewhat easy decision”. For residential respondents, the August number at 60.6% is down slightly from 63.1% in May 2003 and up from 37.4% in 2002 and 41.5% in 2001. For businesses, the percent moved up to 63.1% from 61.3% and is up from 48.1% recorded in 2002.
On The Environment…
Residential respondents remain, at 33.8%, more likely than business leaders, at 21.7%, to say that the introduction of electric competition will improve the environment. Another 6.6% of residents and 3.5% of businesses believe competition will cause harm to the environment.
On Decision Making…
The number of residential survey respondents who report making a decision regarding electric competition in Texas continues to grow. The number of residents who report making one of three decisions (choose, not to choose, not to make a choice yet) has moved to 55.6% from 55.2% in May 2003, 48.4% in 2002 and 43.3% in 2001. For business leaders, the number of respondents who suggest they have made one of these three decisions has increased to 60.1% from 56.6% in May 2003.
A decreased number of August 2003 residential respondents, 34.4% (from 35.9%), recall seeing stories about electric competition, Texas Electric Choice, or deregulation of the electric utilities. Business respondents who recall stories, however, increased in 2003 moving to 38.7% (August 2003) from 35.2% (May 2003).
As a result of these stories, 32.2% of residents and 14.8% of business leaders in August 2003 suggest their impression of retail competition has changed positively.
On Satisfaction…
Lower than satisfaction levels recorded in previous years, the majority of both residential (84.7%) and business (84.8%) customers suggest being either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their current electric company.
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