AARP Studies Awareness of Restructuring

A November 2002 AARP study of awareness of utility restructuring and energy price issues shows that knowledge varies considerably by income levels and age.

In states that have active or suspended restructuring activities, low-income bill payers (52 percent) were four times more likely than high-income bill payers (13 percent) to report that they had never heard of electric deregulation. Bill payers over age 65 were the least likely to have heard about deregulation; 67 percent of older households had heard of it, compared to 78 percent between the ages of 35 and 49, and 81 percent of bill payers ages 50 through 64.

In states with active or suspended restructuring, only one in 10 bill payers knew how much they had paid per kilowatt-hour for electricity.

However, 80 percent of those who did not know reported that they knew how to find out the unit prices. Similar to knowledge of deregulation, low-income people and consumers 65 years of age and older were least likely to know their per kilowatt-hour price or how to find out the per-unit price.

The survey results are available on the AARP website at:
http://www.research.aarp.org/consume/dd81_energy.html

Page Last Updated: December 7, 2005