Support for renewable energy remains high

Renewable energy continues to receive high support from UK households, with 79 per cent backing it, according to the UK government’s energy and climate change public attitudes tracker (PAT).

Data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in wave 24 of the survey showed a slight decrease from 82 per cent supporting the use of renewable energy in wave 23. While year-on-year the figure increased from 74 per cent (wave 20).

Opposition to renewables remained low at 4 per cent, with only 1 per cent “strongly opposed”.

Meanwhile, 35 per cent said they support the use of nuclear energy, compared to 22 per cent who were opposed. Four in ten (40 per cent) were neutral on the matter.

Claire Perry, energy and clean growth minister at BEIS, said: “Backing for renewable energy continues to be high with 79 per cent of the public in support. Clean growth is at the heart of our Industrial Strategy which is why we are investing £2.5 billion to support low carbon innovation from 2015 to 2021.

“Support for renewables is a UK success story. We’ve shown that renewable energy projects are an effective way to cut our emissions, while creating thousands of good jobs and attracting billions of pounds worth of investment.”

Despite high levels of awareness of fracking at wave 24 (76 per cent), half of the respondents neither supported or opposed it (49 per cent). Of those who offered an opinion, 32 per cent were opposed to extracting shale gas compared to 16 per cent who supported it.

The survey also found that 22 per cent said they were “very” or “fairly” worried about paying their energy bills.

Elsewhere in the survey, data relating to energy suppliers and switching found consumers’ levels of trust in energy suppliers showed little change from recent waves.

Respondents remained most likely to trust suppliers to provide a bill which accurately reflects energy use (73 per cent). They were less likely to trust suppliers to make their home more energy efficient (51 per cent); to inform customers about their best tariff (54 per cent) and to provide impartial and accurate advice on energy efficiency measures (59 per cent).

More than half (56 per cent) said they would not be switching supplier in the next year, compared to seven per cent who said they plan to switch. Around a third (31 per cent) felt “they may or may not switch supplier”.

The PAT consists of one annual survey in March and three shorter surveys, usually in June, September and December. The latest survey was conducted between 13 and 17 December 2017 with 2,078 households surveyed.