UK Energy Efficiency Trends – September 2016

Energy Efficiency Trends is a quarterly report focused on the UK market, providing insight into non-residential energy efficiency.

This edition examines consumer and supplier trends in the second quarter of 2016 (March-June) and provides invaluable insight on the immediate impact of the UK’s decision to exit the EU.

Last quarter’s survey results were clear; respondents felt strongly that the energy efficiency sector would be best served if the UK remained in the EU. As we know, the UK electorate took a contrary view. So, what next?

This is the billion dollar question that we asked in this quarter’s industry survey.  And perhaps unsurprisingly the answer we got signalled ‘uncertainty’. More importantly, as a result of this uncertainty, both consumers and suppliers expressed concern around how this is expected to impact energy saving activities and investments – whether it be a cooling off of customer demand (for suppliers), or higher technology and installation costs (for consumers). The sector-wide outlook has certainly been damped, confidence has certainly been hit on both sides (see our post Brexit supply-side results on page 16, consumer-side on page 19) and, as a sector, we are keen for political and economic certainty to be restored.

In other news – and re-focusing on core business for a minute – this quarter’s results have also shown some material shifts in consumer buying preferences. Until now, lighting has been the dominant technology of choice. It is still top of the pile, but consumer interest in BEMS and Smart Metering has shot up considerably. Lighting looks to have taken much of the hit and we saw an uncharacteristically sharp dip this quarter. If this trend were to continue, these performance management-based technologies could potentially challenge lighting for the top spot in the forthcoming quarters. Watch this space!

So, it is an understatement to say that there’s a lot going on in the UK market at the moment!  In this context, we hope that the objective intelligence that Energy Efficiency Trends aims to deliver is more helpful and more insightful than ever.

For more information, please visit the Trends portal on the EEVS website: http://www.energyefficiencytrends.com/

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