What are the factors involved in the decisions of the energy consumer? How much do socio-cultural behaviors affect customer behavior towards market offers? What are their dreams and needs? Protected and free market, two different types of consumer? These are some of the questions that Acquirente Unico answered with targeted research: 2000 interviews with a sample of 18-74 year-olds representing the Italian population by gender, age, geographical area of residence.
The energy market relating to private users currently presents a stalemate and, from a recent analysis, the results speak for themselves: 83.9% of the interviewees declare that they have remained in the protected market, while those of the free market are 16,1 ,35 and they are mainly people with children, belonging to the central age brackets (64-40.3 years old), with university education, residing in the north-east and in the centre. The dynamics of this difficulty in migrating to the free market are mainly linked to the consumer's difficulty in getting a clear idea of the market dynamics. When asked about the reasons for the failure to change the regime, they first of all declared a lack of interest in the free market ("It's not one of my priorities", 12.9%). Added to this are further elements such as: satisfaction with one's supplier ("I am satisfied with the current supplier", 12.2%) and a still insufficient level of information ("I am not informed enough", 10.4%). Furthermore, one interviewee out of ten believes that any gain deriving from signing a new contract with competitive rates would not be such as to justify the change of supplier ("The savings do not seem to me such as to justify the switch", 7.5%), or that , in other words, the suppliers are ultimately all the same (“I think the operators are all the same”, 10.1%). Always one interviewee out of ten fears receiving a worse service than the current one (“I fear receiving a worse service”, XNUMX%).
So the first reality that is highlighted is that "the price" is not the only lever that drives change, on the contrary. The propensity to choose the free market is accompanied, in fact, by very clear factors such as attention to social issues, consumerism and the environment, to being active consumers. Those who switch to the free market also seem to have a more dynamic social life, more marked by sharing and caring for relationships. 'Conscious choice', 'wealth and importance of relationships', 'dynamism', 'domestic life', 'environment', 'participation', 'respect', 'consumption need', 'complexity management', 'low impact' these are just some of the keywords and values that characterize free market users.
Choosing your electricity supplier, therefore, is a form of participation in public life and an act of self-determination. A more aware, more proactive and informed attitude towards energy issues and consumption corresponds to a greater propensity for socializing, both at home and outside the home, while more indifferent or skeptical positions on energy issues correspond to more closed lifestyles , characterized by restricted sociality, which is expressed in small communities (close family and few friends).
Sensitivity towards the free market seems to coincide with a dynamic and relational approach. It is thus possible to identify two different macro areas among users of the energy market: on the one hand, the area characterized by low interest in energy issues, which is accompanied by scarce information, high energy consumption and passivity in choice behavior – it is in this area that those who choose to remain in the protected market are found with the greatest incidence; on the other, the area characterized by a high interest in energy issues, attention to savings and awareness of one's own consumption choices – it is in this area that those who choose to switch to the free market are found with greater incidence.
But what are the various consumer profiles within the market? The study revealed 5 types of consumers:
* Liabilities The group is characterized by:
A low interest in energy issues, both in terms of the prospect of receiving more information and in terms of information behavior (bill reading, friends' opinions, reading websites, ...)
A low level of information both as regards general aspects and single specific topics. For example low knowledge of
* Engaged power (36.1% of 'don't know' vs. 23.0% total pop)
* Average spend (31.8% of 'don't know' vs. 19.4% tot pop)
* Existence of the free market (11.7% vs 16.1% tot pop)
The highest level of consumption (average spending)
High satisfaction with the new supplier for those who switched to the free market (service and price: 72.9% satisfied vs. 57.5% tot pop)
High expectations towards market liberalization and the presence of private consultants ("The presence of more operators in the energy market, following its liberalisation, brings effective benefits to users" m+a agree: 77.8% vs. 62.3% tot pop: «To find the most advantageous offers among energy suppliers, I would be willing to rely on private consultants» m+a agree: 59.2% vs. 36.3 tot pop)
* The Frightened, it is an average high-spending group but little informed and not very interested in information. In fact it is characterized by:
* Highest committed power and second highest electricity bill
* They are the least informed about the existence of the liberalized market (28% do not know about it vs. 16.5% of the total population). The lack of information is also believed to be the second reason why it was not decided to switch to the liberalized market (after the lack of real interest) (17.1% vs 12.2% of the total population). This attitude also finds its counterpart in practical behaviours: as many as 40.4% of the group (vs. 35.4% of the total populace) declare that they usually do not inquire about electricity and 34.4% limit themselves to paying without reading the bill
* They are the least dynamic consumers: only 11.5% have switched to the free market (vs. 16.1% of the total population). However, those who have switched to the free market are very satisfied, especially with regard to the price
* The Inertials. In this group, skepticism and fear of changes remain, even if this does not necessarily translate into a rejection of the liberalized market
* The committed power is the standard one (3 kilowatt hours), but a good percentage of members of the group have switched to the free market (17.95 vs. 16.1% of the total pop), even the average expenditure is in line with the rest of the population
* Knowledge of the liberalized market is good, as is the widespread behavior of checking consumption by time slot (12.3% vs. 9.7% tot pop). There is a fair predisposition to receive more information about energy, for 21.7% (vs. 19.6% of the total population) the topic, however, is too complex
* Those who have not changed supplier is because they are satisfied with the current one, but also because they are afraid of receiving a worse service (15.3% vs. 10.1% tot pop) or think that operators are all the same (11.3% vs. 7.5% tot pop)
* When searching for information, people prefer to rely on the advice of friends and relatives (17.8% vs. 11.9% tot pop) and exposure to advertising is high (5.1% vs. 3.5% tot pop)
* The responsibles. The group is characterized by consumerism and skepticism towards the free market. However, this did not block the passage to the free market (third absolute value, after the Conscious and the Inertial).
* It is the third group for the transition to the new free market (17% vs. 16.1% tot pop)
* They have an average installed capacity and a medium-low cost
* They are the least satisfied with the transition to the free market (26.7% vs 13.7% of the total population)
* If they do not switch to the free market, it is because they are satisfied with their supplier (18.6% vs. 12.9% of the total pop) or because they think it is not convenient (14.2 vs. 10.4%)
* In the group there is a good diffusion of informative behaviors (bill reading, websites, ...), in fact as many as 20.4 declare that they always read the entire bill in detail (vs 15.4% of the total pop)
* They are the group that least believes in market liberalization ("The presence of more operators in the energy market, following its liberalization, brings effective advantages to users", 49.6% of m+a agree vs. 62.3% of the tot pop) and would less rely on private consultants (24% of m+a agree vs 36.3% of tot pop).
*The Aware. The group is characterized by the cognitive tools it possesses and by its attentive and critical nature. In fact, they are consumers who are open to innovation, aware and responsible. In fact, they are characterized by:
* Excellent knowledge of the liberalized market (90% vs. 83.5%) and the composition of the price in the bill
* Greater interest in learning more about energy issues (34.5% vs. 22.9%)
* The widespread adoption of proactive behaviors towards information (careful reading of the bill, corporate and third-party sites, ...)
* Although they have an average committed power and a medium-low cost, they would be willing to spend more if the energy produced would better protect the environment
* They are the first group by percentage of those who have changed supplier (20.5% vs. 16.1% tot pop), even if they are not very satisfied (15% not satisfied vs. 13.7% tot have changed supplier)
* In fact, they don't particularly believe in the free market and in consultants
* Those who remain on the protected market are convinced of the choice, because they have calculated that it is not that convenient after all
