Survey shows ‘notable decrease’ in net zero awareness

There was a “notable decrease” in public awareness of the concept of net zero between December and March, a government survey has shown.

The most recent public attitudes tracker by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) found 62 per cent of respondents were aware of the concept of net zero compared to a peak of 76 per cent in December last year.

Awareness has previously increased in every wave up to December. March’s figures are similar to those reported last June (63 per cent) and remain higher than when the measure was first included in the online tracker in March 2020 (52 per cent).

Despite a majority being aware of net zero, the level of knowledge among the public was relatively low. Just 3 per cent knew a lot about it and 11 per cent knew a fair amount. A quarter said they knew a little about net zero and 23 per cent said they knew hardly anything.

Source: BEIS

Almost a third of people (32 per cent) had not heard of net zero before the interview.

Awareness was higher among men (70 per cent, compared with 54 per cent of women) and those in social grades AB (74 per cent, compared with 51 per cent of those in social grades DE).

The figures from BEIS come as Citizens Advice recently called for a national communications drive to help bring the public on board with the UK’s decarbonisation ambitions.

Smart meters

Elsewhere, an overwhelming majority of the public were aware of smart meters (96 per cent) which is consistent with March last year. The proportion of people who actually have a smart meter installed has increased from 43 per cent to 47 per cent.

Older people (99 per cent of those aged 65 and over, compared with 93 per cent of those aged 16 to 24) were more likely to be aware of the devices.

Bills

The survey also looked at the public’s attitude towards their energy bills and found 40 per cent were either very worried (11 per cent) or fairly worried (29 per cent) about paying for energy bills – a slight increase from the 37 per cent reported in March last year.

People aged 25 to 34 (58 per cent) were more likely to be worried than all other age groups (between 21 and 48 per cent).

Those in social grades C2DE (46 per cent) were also more likely to be worried than social grades AB (34 per cent), while private and social renters were more likely to be worried about energy bills (51 per cent and 50 per cent respectively, compared with 36 per cent of owner occupiers).

Suppliers and switching

Consumers were asked whether they trusted energy suppliers across six metrics:

• Give customers a fair deal
• Provide them with a bill which accurately reflects the energy they have used
• Provide a breakdown of the components of their bill
• Inform customers about the best tariff for them
• Improve their home to make it more energy efficient, if they paid them to do this
• Provide impartial and accurate advice on energy efficiency measures

People were most likely to trust suppliers to provide them with a bill which accurately reflects the energy they have used (72 per cent) and to provide a breakdown of the components of their bill (70 per cent).

However, less than half said they trust energy suppliers to improve their home to make it more energy efficient if paid to do so (43 per cent). Just under a quarter (24 per cent) of the public trusted energy suppliers across all six measures.

When asked about their switching history, 26 per cent said they have switched supplier in the last year, with a further 45 per cent saying they have switched supplier but more than a year ago which is consistent with figures seen last March.

Just under a quarter (23 per cent) said they have never switched supplier, which is a slight decrease from 26 per cent in March 2020.

Climate change and renewables

There was a slight fall in the number of people who said they were concerned about climate change (80 per cent compared to the 82 per cent reported in September 2020). BEIS said there was also a fall in the proportion who state that they are very concerned from 38 per cent in September to 33 per cent in March.

Support for renewables has remained stable since March 2020, with 79 per cent saying they supported renewable energy this year. Support for renewables has remained between 78 to 80 per cent since last March when the question was first asked.

Solar was the most popular, with 84 per cent support, followed by offshore wind (76 per cent). Support for wave and tidal decreased from 79 per cent in September to 75 per cent.

Meanwhile, onshore wind saw a slight increase from 67 per cent in September to 70 per cent in March, whilst biomass remained stable at 67 per cent.