E Source Market Research Multi-Client Study

Understanding Low-Income Households

For most utilities, low-income residential customers constitute a challenging market segment to serve. Understanding their needs, financial priorities, and interactions with their utilities is critical for energy service providers (ESPs). This study is designed to help ESPs in Canada and the United States better understand the needs of low-income customers, how they would prefer to interact with their utility, and which channels utilities should use to communicate with them. You may purchase the study in its entirety or select one or more the following individual modules. (For more detail on the overall study and the individual modules, download a PDF brochure.)

• Module 1: Energy Efficiency and Home Appliances
• Module 2: Billing and Communications
• Module 3: Profiling and Satisfaction

The questions included in our survey of low-income households focused on:

• How they perceive their utility
• Attitudes toward energy efficiency
• How they use their home appliances
• Preferred methods of billing and payment
• Preferred methods of communicating with their utility
• Household budget and energy costs
• Demographics