Electric Utilities Lack Customer Support Needed to Meet Sustainability Goals

Judging solely by their annual reports, press releases and public talking points, the nation’s electric utilities are all-in on carbon reduction. A significant majority (81%) of electric utility customers^[1] are now served by a utility with a stated carbon-reduction target. However, many utilities do not have plans that are disclosed or validated by independent groups such as CDP or the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). According to the J.D. Power 2022 Sustainability Index, even fewer utilities have the customer awareness and support they will need to make their goals a reality.

 “If the aggressive carbon reduction goals most utilities have in place are ever going to be achieved, customers are going to need to play a key role, both in terms of modifying their current energy use habits and supporting the funding required to improve infrastructure and deliver the clean energy sources,” said Andrew Heath, senior director of utilities intelligence at J.D. Power. “Right now, even the best-performing utilities are not where they need to be in terms of customer engagement, awareness and support for sustainability initiatives.”

Click here to read the press release, including key findings from the study and which utilities scored the highest on the Index.

[1] SEPA Utility Carbon-Reduction Tracker™. Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA). Retrieved July 10, 2022, from https://sepasandbox.wpengine.com/utility-transformation-challenge/utility-carbon-reduction-tracker