All pigeons? When the French want to take back control of their electricity bills. An opinionWay survey* for mylight150
To analyze the way French people look at their electricity consumption and energy bills, as well as their willingness to rely more or not on electricity production in the future, mylight150 had a survey conducted by OpinionWay*, the results of which it is unveiling today:
56% French people feel like pigeons when it comes to their electricity bill.
67% of respondents realize that their uses consume more and more
of electricity.
50% would like to produce their own electricity but don't know where to start.
77% of the French want to produce their own solar electricity to resume the
control their energy bill...
... and 66% want to stop being dependent on factors that they can't control.
73% of French people say that their energy bill is too expensive
After an increase in electricity prices of more than 40% in two years, the amount of the energy bill is more than ever a matter of concern for the French. 73% of them feel that they pay too much for energy in their homes, of which more than 1/3 consider this amount plenty overpriced (34%).
All categories of the population overwhelmingly agree that they pay too much for their energy bills., regardless of the level of income (71% among the poorest vs. 73% among the most affluent1), the type of housing (74% among those living in houses vs. 72% for those in apartments), or even their housing occupancy status (73% among owners and renters).
Some profiles express their dismay even more blatantly. : middle age groups (77% among 35-49 year olds and 79% among 50-64 year olds) as well as people living in the least dense residential areas (78% in rural municipalities).
The impression of being taken for pigeons
Faced with energy bills that they consider too high, a majority of French people (56%) do not mince words and admit to feeling taken for pigeons, and “disappointed” upon reading the latter, faced with the amounts requested. The majority (67%) of the youngest, 25-34 year olds, show this discontent, in the group of young people who are active and living independently. And also French people living in rural areas (64%).
When asked who they would use first and foremost to optimize their energy consumption, we can see that the French only trust themselves (55%), both men and women. The older the French are, the more they tend to rely on their own expertise to optimize their energy consumption. They are 71% among those aged 65 and over compared to 31% of 18-24 year olds and 48% of 35-49 year olds.
And they are reluctant to turn to outside sources of information.. Thus, only 17% say that they would use their energy supplier first and 11% their loved ones... just as much as artificial intelligence (11%)!
Quite logically, 18-24 year olds plan to rely more on their loved ones (24%) or on artificial intelligence resources (18%) than their elders.
The transition to all-electric, a current topic...
For 49% of French people, taking into account the current climate and political contexts, going all-electric on a personal basis (car, heat pump, water heater, etc.) is a current topic.
Some populations feel this need for a transition more. towards all-electric power: these include men (55%), 18-24 year olds (59%) and inhabitants of large cities (53% among inhabitants of agglomerations of 100,000 inhabitants and over, including Paris).
The French are lucid about the omnipresence of this energy in their current lives. 67% of French people realize that they consume more and more electricity, an even more frequent finding among those under 35 (76%).
The idea of producing and consuming your own electricity using solar energy is appealing: nearly one French person out of two (44%) says that he has already considered self-consumption via solar panels to reduce his energy bill, while the cap for the number of houses equipped with solar panels has just exceeded one million.
People aged 18-24 and 35-49 say more often than average that they have considered installing solar panels (54%), as do homeowners, whose infrastructures are more suitable to accommodate them (55%)... Even though more than a quarter of those living in an apartment indicate that they have also already imagined it, even though the exercise is significantly more complicated (28%).
... with a few more obstacles to implementation.
50% of French people would like to produce their own electricity but do not know where to start, and among them, 72% of 18-24 year olds, and 61% of 35-49 year olds.
69% of French people feel that it is too complicated to produce their own electricity. Also, 63% feel that their lifestyle does not allow it. Parisians in the first place (75%), who mainly live in apartments.
Regaining control of their energy bills
However, they say it themselves, installing solar panels would allow them to reduce the amount of their energy expenses... and to no longer feel like pigeons!
When asked what are the reasons, above all, why they might consider producing their own electricity using solar energy:
- 77% French respondents answer that it is because they want to take back control of their energy bills : 35-49 year olds first (80%) and 25-34 year olds second (79%).
- 66% want to stop being dependent on factors they don't control (politics, laws,
wars, climate...) the vast majority of people aged 50-64 (71%)
- 41% say that for them it is the future, and a profitable investment over time, at 50%
For Ondine and Virgile Suavet; ” With the replacement of oil and gas by electricity in our lives, which will continue to increase in the next 10 years (heat pump, electric car, etc.), French electricity bills will follow the same trend. Solar self-consumption is an excellent solution for French people to no longer feel like pigeons, and to give them power over their electricity bill by reducing it. But this survey shows us that there is real educational work to be done to show French people how to do it and what savings they can make!
Today, with solar panels, a virtual battery that returns to individuals for €0 and at any time the energy produced and not consumed, mylight150 makes French people save more than 50% for at least 30 years. ”
*A quantitative study conducted online by the OpinionWay Institute for mylight150 on October 9 and 10, 2024, with a swatch of 1067 people, representative of The French population aged 18 and over. The sample was constituted according to the quota method, based on the criteria of sex, age, socio-professional category, agglomeration category and region of residence criteria. The interviews were conducted by online self-administered questionnaire on the CAWI system (Computer Assisted Web Interview). OpinionWay carried out this survey using the procedures and rules of the ISO 20252 standard.
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