The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy have been polling a sample of the UK public since 2012 gaining opinion on energy and climate change topics. In the latest survey they have found that 82% support the use of renewable energy with 84% saying they supported Solar Energy. Below details some of the information which was highlighted in this months findings.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE PUBLIC ATTITUDE TRACKER - Wave 23 - November 2017

In March 2012 the Department of Energy and Climate Change launched a tracking survey to understand and monitor public attitudes to the Department’s main business priorities. On 14 July 2016, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) merged with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), to form the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). As such, the survey is now BEIS’s Energy and Climate Change Public Attitudes Tracker (PAT). The PAT still consists of one annual survey every March and three shorter surveys, usually in June, September and December, which repeat a subset of questions where we think attitudes might shift with greater regularity or be influenced by seasonal factors. The tracker is regularly reviewed to ensure that the dataset continues to offer valuable insight. A list of the changes made to date, covering both question content and frequency, is included in the annex.This report presents summary headline findings from September – October (Wave 23) and primarily makes comparisons with data from Wave 19 which was conducted at the same point last year (September – October 2016).The twenty-third wave of data was collected between 27 September–1 October 2017 using face-to-face in-home interviews with a representative sample of 2,105 households in the UK. Data was collected using the Kantar TNS Omnibus, which uses a random location quota sampling method. The questionnaire was designed by BEIS and Kantar Public (formerly TNS BMRB) drawing on a number of questions from previous surveys. Questions were refined through cognitive testing. Full details of the methodology are provided in the technical note.Tables with fieldwork dates and sample sizes for each wave and a complete list of changes to the question set and frequency in the past 12 months is included in the annex of this report.

Summary of headline findings

This summary provides selected headlines and highlights statistically significant differences between Wave 23 and previous waves. It is not an exhaustive overview of the findings. Please refer to the accompanying excel summary tables and excel dataset to see full responses to all survey questions: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/public-attitudes-tracking-survey

Energy Security

Levels of concern in relation to some aspects of the UK’s future energy security have fallen compared with the last wave when these questions were asked (wave 21). There were drops in the proportion concerned that the UK is becoming too dependent on energy from other countries (66% to 59%), that the UK is not developing technology to use existing fossil fuels sufficiently (57% to 50%), and that UK supplies of fossil fuels are not sufficient to meet the UK’s demand (59% to 51%).

Energy Bills

Worries over paying for energy bills have remained at their lowest since the tracker began, with only 20% either very or fairly worried about paying their energy bills. The level of worry was lowest amongst those with household incomes over £50,000 (12%), 16-24 year olds (12%) and social grade AB (13%). It was highest amongst social renters (24%), 35-44 year olds (25%), those in social grade DE (27%), and those with household incomes up to £15,999 (26%).Between wave 14 and wave 23, the proportion of respondents who were very or fairly worried about their energy bills has remained between 20% and 30%. In earlier waves of the survey, levels of worry were much higher. Half (48%) were very or fairly worried at the equivalent wave of fieldwork in 2013 (wave 7, September 2013).The level of relative concern about energy bills versus other household bills has remained stable since last year. When comparing energy bills against other bills at Wave 23, 5% of respondents were more worried about energy bills than paying for food, transport, and housing costs. This is considerably lower than the peak of 14% in wave 8 of the tracker.

Energy suppliers and switching

Consumers’ levels of trust in energy suppliers on a range of measures showed little change from recent waves. Respondents remained most likely to trust suppliers to provide a bill which accurately reflects energy use (72%), and to provide a breakdown of the components of their bill (72%). They were less likely to trust suppliers to provide impartial and accurate advice on energy efficiency measures (59%), give customers a fair deal (58%), inform customers about the best tariff (55%) and to improve their home to make it more energy efficient, if asked to do this (54%).The proportion of the public that plan to switch energy supplier in the next year has remained stable when compared with the same stage last year. At wave 23, 5% had firm plans to switch their supplier in the next year, whilst around a third (32%) felt that they ‘may or may not switch supplier’. Six in ten (59%) stated that they would not be switching supplier. The most likely groups to have firm plans to switch in the next year were those with a household income above £50,000 (8%) and those aged 45-54 (8%). In comparison, those aged 16-24 (2%) were least likely to have plans to switch.

Energy Saving and Wasting

The proportion of people that claim to give a lot of thought to saving energy in the home has remained very stable over recent waves. Twenty five per cent of people claimed to give a lot of thought to saving energy at home, whilst 50% claimed to give it a fair amount of thought. The findings at wave 23 are very similar to those at all previous waves conducted at this point of the year.

Renewable Energy

At wave 23, 82% of respondents expressed support for the use of renewable energy, a slight increase from 77% at wave 22, and 79% one year ago (wave 19). Opposition to renewables remained very low at 3%, with only 1% strongly opposed.Support for a range of renewable energy developments remained high: 84% of respondents said they supported solar energy, 79% supported both off-shore wind and wave and tidal, 74% supported on-short wind, and 69% supported biomass.

Nuclear Energy

Support for the use of nuclear energy has remained fairly stable over the course of the tracker. At wave 23, 33% supported nuclear energy compared with 25% who were opposed. Those with an annual household income of £50,000 or more (42%), males (40%), those aged over 65 (42%), and those in social grade AB (38%) were the most likely to support the use of nuclear energy. Four in ten (40%) selected the neutral option at this question, to indicate that they neither support nor oppose the use of nuclear energy.

Radioactive Waste

At wave 23, 14% said they knew a lot or a fair amount about the way the UK manages radioactive waste, whilst 86% knew not very much or nothing at all. These results are consistent with previous waves. There was a slight increase in the proportion of respondents who claimed to have some knowledge of Geological Disposal Facilities (GDF), from 41% at wave 22 to 46% at wave 23. Most who were aware did not have a lot of knowledge; 23% said they were aware but did not really know what they were, and 20% knew little about them. Only 4% said they knew a lot about GDF. Self-assessed knowledge of GDF differs by gender, age and social group, with men (54%, compared with 38% for women), those who are aged 65 and over (62%, compared with 34% of 16-24 year olds) and those in social grades AB (57%, compared with 35% in social grades DE) more likely to claim knowledge of GDF.

Shale Gas

Three quarters of the public were aware of fracking at wave 23 (78%). Awareness of fracking has remained very stable over the last three years of the tracker, following a significant increase between wave 2 (42%) and wave 8 (70%). However, despite many people being aware of fracking, only a small proportion claimed to have detailed knowledge. At wave 23, 13% claimed to know a lot about fracking, whilst 47% said they knew a little, and 18% were aware of it but didn’t really know what it was. These findings have shown no change since wave 22 and have remained fairly consistent over the last three years. Awareness of fracking was higher among males (84%), for those in social grade AB (91%), aged over 65 (90%), with incomes over £50,000 (91%), and home owners (86%).When asked whether they support or oppose extracting shale gas, half of the public (48%) neither supported nor opposed it, with a further 4% saying they did not know whether they supported or opposed. Of those who offered an opinion, more people were opposed to fracking (36%) than supported it (13%). Support for fracking is at its lowest point since the tracker began asking respondents about their opinions on the subject at wave 8. Follow-up questions were asked to identify the most common reasons why people support or oppose fracking. The most common reasons for supporting fracking were the need to use all available energy sources (32%), being good for local jobs and investment (28%), potentially resulting in cheaper energy bills (26%), and to reduce dependence on other countries for the UK’s energy supply (24%). The most common reason for opposing fracking was the loss or destruction of natural environment (64%). Other commonly cited reasons included a view there is too much risk and uncertainty (30%), the risk of contamination to water supplies (28%), that it is generally not a safe process (25%), and that there is a risk of earthquakes (23%).

Smart Meters

There has been a small increase in awareness of smart meters between wave 21 (82%) and wave 23 (85%). At wave 23, almost three in ten (27%) reported they had a smart meter, whilst six in ten were aware of smart meters but did not own one (58%). Ownership of smart meters was highest for those in social grade DE (33%) and social renters (35%). Awareness was higher for those with household incomes over £50,000 (92%), and those in social grade C1 (88%). There were also higher levels of awareness for age groups 45 to 54 (90%), 55-64 (89%) and 65+ (88%).

Technical Notes

The results shown here are based on 2,105 face-to-face in-home interviews conducted with a representative sample of UK adults aged 16+. Fieldwork was conducted between 27th September 2017 and 1st October 2017 on the Kantar TNS Omnibus, which uses a random location quota sampling method. The questionnaire was designed by BEIS and Kantar Public drawing on a number of questions from previous surveys. Questions were refined through cognitive testing. The representativeness of the data was controlled through sample design, fieldwork quotas and post-fieldwork weighting. Data were weighted for the following characteristics: sex, age, social grade, region and tenure. Results included here are based on weighted data.To view the full report visit - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/656549/Wave_23_Summary_Report.pdf