Consumers rely more on energy firms’ know-how for advice: survey

Singapore’s energy firms are more trustworthy than global peers.

It seems like energy consumers of the city-state believe their energy providers have mastered their trade, as 54% of respondents in Singapore said that they trust their energy provider to inform them about actions they can take to optimise their energy usage.

According to a survey by Accenture, Singaporeans are more trusting of their energy providers than their global neighbors, enveloping the global average of 36%.

Additionally, 75% said they are confident in their energy providers’ ability to secure and protect their personal data and information about their energy usage.

“An unprecedented amount of personal information on consumer habits and households is now more readily available. This has magnified the importance of digital trust,” said Valentin de Miguel, Accenture’s managing director of APAC resources.

Meanwhile, about two-thirds (70%) of consumers said they would allow their energy provider’s mobile application to access their location information, regardless of whether to provide outage information or to inform them about promotions.

“With the proliferation of new energy-generating technologies, Accenture’s research also found that consumers in Singapore are becoming increasingly conscious of their energy consumption. More than three-quarters (77 percent) said that they would be interested in products and services that help them save electricity – up from 64 percent last year – while 76 percent said that they would be interested in participating in an energy-management programme to help them conserve energy, more than the global average of 69 percent,” de Miguel said.

On the contrary, 22% are still not convinced that their energy provider is capable of helping them manage their energy consumption.