Energy and utilities market research
Energy and utilities research built around trust, reputation and choice
Energy and utilities market research is how energy retailers, networks and utilities understand how they’re seen, chosen and trusted, by customers, and by the regulators, governments and communities who shape what they can do. It spans reputation and trust, customer experience, switching and retention where markets are open, proposition and tariff testing, segmentation, brand health, and attitudes and behavior around the energy transition. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally.
Energy isn’t one market. In deregulated markets, much of the UK and some US states, people pick a supplier, and choice, price and switching drive the game. Across much of the US, gas, electric and often cable and internet are regulated monopolies: customers get whoever serves their area, and even going solar keeps them tied to the grid. So how much choice matters swings from central to almost nonexistent depending on where you operate, and the research has to reflect that.
Also researching broadband or mobile? Here’s how we approach telecom market research.
When people can’t switch, reputation is the whole game.
Start with an awkward truth: in much of the energy and utilities world, the customer has no choice. Across large parts of the US, gas, electric and often cable and internet are regulated monopolies, you get whoever serves your area, and even installing solar leaves you tied to the local grid. The UK and a handful of deregulated US markets let people pick a supplier; plenty of places simply don’t.
That flips what a brand is for. Where customers can’t leave, you’re not competing to win them, you’re managing how you’re seen: by captive customers who judge you loudest when something goes wrong, and just as much by the regulators who set what you can charge and build, the governments who fund the transition, and the communities who grant or refuse a license to operate. Here, reputation isn’t a marketing nicety. It’s what unlocks rate cases, funding and permission to grow.
And where there is choice, the consumer decision still matters: people say they want cheaper, greener, smarter energy, then stall on the switch, the tariff, the heat pump, even when the math says go. So the real work spans both, the reputation and trust that decide your future with every stakeholder, and, where markets are open, the behavior behind switching and adoption. The providers that win aren’t just the cheapest or the greenest. They’re the most trusted, by the people who can leave and the many who can’t.
What great energy and utilities research delivers
In a category where the customer may have no choice at all, research has to show how you’re really seen, by customers, regulators and communities, and, where there is choice, what actually moves it.
We help energy and utilities brands:
- Understand your reputation and trust with customers, regulators, government and communities
- Build the evidence that supports rate reviews, funding and your license to operate
- Manage trust where customers can’t leave, turning captive into genuinely satisfied
- Understand switching, retention and consumer choice where markets are open
- Drive adoption of new energy products, solar, heat pumps, EV charging and smart tariffs
- Test propositions, tariffs and communications before you take them to market
- Map the customer journey across the bill, the app, the call and the doorstep
- Track brand health and reputation over time, across every stakeholder that matters
How an energy study comes together
No off-the-shelf template. We build every energy study around the question in front of you, then choose the methods that answer it.
That usually means a mix. Qualitative work to get inside how customers, and stakeholders, really see you. Quantitative research to size segments, model tariffs and pricing, and separate stated intent from likely behavior. Organic Intelligence, our AI and big-data practice, to read the complaints, forums and conversations where trust is won and lost. Reputation and stakeholder research to understand how regulators, government and communities view you. Behavioral science to understand why people stall on choices the math says they should make. And customer journey work, through Touchpoint 360°, to follow the experience across the bill, the app, the call center and the doorstep.
AI runs through all of it, from how we read conversation at scale to how we model behavior. The judgment about what it means for your brand stays human.
Energy and utilities market research FAQ
What is energy and utilities market research?
Energy and utilities market research is how energy retailers, networks and utilities understand how they’re seen, chosen and trusted, by customers, and by the regulators, governments and communities who shape what they can do. It covers reputation and trust, customer experience, switching and retention where markets are open, proposition and tariff testing, segmentation, brand health, and attitudes and behavior around the energy transition. Basis runs it across the US, UK and globally.
How do people choose an energy provider?
Often they can’t. Across much of the US, energy and utilities are regulated monopolies, so customers get whoever serves their area, and even going solar keeps them on the local grid. Where markets are open, the UK and some US states, people choose reluctantly, ignoring it until a bill jumps or they move home. Either way, reputation, trust and fairness shape a provider’s standing more than price alone.
What does Basis do in energy and utilities market research?
Basis works across reputation and trust research, customer experience, switching and retention, proposition and tariff testing, segmentation, brand health, and behavior and adoption around new energy products and the transition, for energy retailers, networks and utilities. Every project is scoped around the commercial question rather than a fixed template, from a rate case or repricing to reputation with regulators or driving adoption of solar, heat pumps and EV charging.
Why is trust so important in energy and utilities?
Because reputation is the asset, especially where customers can’t leave. It shapes how captive customers feel, and how regulators, governments and communities treat you, which affects rate cases, funding and your license to operate. In a cost-of-living squeeze, fairness and how a provider behaves under pressure move reputation more than any campaign. Basis measures what builds and erodes trust across every stakeholder that matters.
How can research drive adoption of new energy products like EVs, solar or heat pumps?
By closing the gap between what people say they want and what they actually do. People stall on costly, complex choices even when the math says go. Basis combines behavioral science with primary research to find what really stops them, and what makes a hard decision feel fair, worthwhile and easy to act on, so propositions, pricing and comms drive real adoption.
How is energy and utilities research different from other categories?
In much of the category the customer has no choice at all, so ‘winning the customer’ gives way to managing reputation with captive customers, regulators, governments and communities. It’s also changing fast, tariffs, smart tech, EVs, solar and the transition, and where choice exists, what people say and do rarely match. Basis reads reputation and behavior together, not just stated attitudes.
How does energy and utilities research differ between regulated and deregulated markets?
Hugely. In deregulated markets, the UK and some US states, customers choose a supplier, so switching, pricing and the behavior gap drive the work. In regulated monopoly markets, much of the US, customers can’t choose, so the focus shifts to reputation and trust with captive customers and with the regulators, governments and communities who decide what you can charge, build and be funded to do. Basis works fluently across both.
Which markets can Basis run energy and utilities research in?
Basis runs energy and utilities market research in the US, the UK and globally from a single team, rather than stitching together separate local suppliers. That means consistent method and comparable results across markets, with local nuance where it matters, across energy retailers, networks, utilities and home-energy and technology brands.
Energy and utilities research in action
Sizing the shift to fleet electrification
We mapped how commercial fleet managers, from micro-fleets to thousands of vehicles, are approaching electrification, sizing the opportunity and grounding a new business unit.
Learn more →
Redefining BT Group’s consumer brand portfolio for growth
A single consumer segmentation built around people’s values and attitudes gave BT, EE and Plusnet distinct positionings, and now drives how each essential-service brand goes to market.
Learn more →Why energy and utilities teams choose Basis
We understand that energy and utilities is really many markets, some where customers choose and many where they can’t, and that in all of them your standing is won on reputation and trust, with customers, regulators and communities alike. So we don’t hand over a deck and disappear. We work with your team to show how you’re really seen and, where there’s choice, how people really act, and turn it into reputation, propositions and experiences that hold up.
What we bring:
- Energy and utilities expertise across retail, networks, home energy and infrastructure
- Fluency across regulated (monopoly) and deregulated markets, US, UK and beyond
- A reputation-first lens, with customers, regulators, government and communities
- Behavioral fluency in the gap between what people say and do, where choice exists
- End-to-end capability across qual, quant, Organic Intelligence and cultural insight
- The confidence to challenge when it helps, and the focus to move fast when it counts
Win on reputation, chosen or not
We help energy and utilities brands understand how they’re really seen, by customers, regulators and communities, and, where there’s choice, how people really act, so your reputation holds up wherever you operate.
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