Energy Bills would have to rise £56 per month to incentivise consumers to invest in going green says Nationwide report

46% of people are concerned by the costs of going green and energy bills would have to rise sharply before they invest in going greener says a new report released by Nationwide Building Society. 

Higher Energy Bills the main driver for going Green

Going Green faces challenges

The report highlights that 46% of those people surveyed were concerned over the cost of going green. With the replacement of gas boilers with cleaner alternatives being prohibitively expensive for most households, the industry has a lot of work to do to make green technology affordable to the masses.

30% of those surveyed said that they are concerned they would be overcharged on the work needed to be carried due to them finding green improvements confusing and difficult to understand what benefits such an investment would give them.

A lack of awareness around the green issue was recorded as another significant barrier to increasing the uptake of green investment for households. The survey showed that people were unlikely to know what many of the terms commonly used by the industry mean.

Many of the people surveyed were confused, wary and/or sceptical of the benefits of going green, news that will be of concern for the government who is pushing to hit its NetZero target by 2050.

What will also be of concern is that despite climate change being discussed daily across all forms of media, 53% of those surveyed said they didn’t know what CO2 (Carbon dioxide) is. 75% said they didn’t know what NetZero meant. 90% said they had no clue what an Energy Performance Certificate is and just one in 20 knew what the upcoming COP26 conference was.

Also read: Is 'Green Energy' really good for the environment?

Unpopular announcements?

Recent announcements from the government such as planning to ban the installation of all gas boilers from 2025 and ban all diesel and petrol cars have been met with scepticism and in some cases outright hostility from some areas.

Despite these challenges, the report showed that 50% of those surveyed believed they were environmentally friendly consumers despite many not knowing the meaning of the most commonly used ‘green’ terms.  

“As our research shows, consumers are embracing a number of lifestyle changes to go green, but more needs to be done to support people when it comes to their homes, which are by some margin our biggest contributor to carbon emissions. Without encouragement and incentivisation nothing will likely change,” said Claire Tracey, Nationwide Building Society's Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer.

Also read: Gas Boilers should be banned from 2025 says the International Energy Agency

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Further Reading

National Grid to be stripped of electricity responsibilities in favour of a new independent Future System Operator

Younger customers most worried about energy bills and most likely to have fallen into arrears says Ofgem

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