With states, corporations, and utilities pledging action on climate change through renewable energy targets and goals, it’s a bit surprising to learn from JD Power’s first every sustainability index that most U.S. electric utility customers currently have very low levels of awareness for the climate sustainability initiatives of their local utilities. The J.D. Power Sustainability Index 2020 was released on Wednesday.
The index is focused on ESG (environmental, social and governance) and J.D. Power used those metrics to evaluate electric utility customer awareness, support, engagement and advocacy for their local utility’s climate sustainability programs and goals. The index applies to the 35 largest U.S. electric utility companies and cities, each serving 500,000 or more residential customers.
Key findings of the 2020 index:
- Consumer awareness and engagement with utility climate initiatives very low: The overall sustainability scores for electric utilities evaluated in the study, which are based on consumer awareness, support, engagement and advocacy for their local utility’s climate initiatives, range from a high of 32 to a low of 19 on a 100-point scale.
- Most concerned cities: Utility customers in New York City (Con Edison), Los Angeles (Los Angeles Department of Water & Power) and Portland, Ore., (Portland General Electric) have the highest levels of concern regarding climate change.
- Climate change skeptics: Wyoming and Alabama have the largest percentages of climate change skeptics, with 15% and 11% of respondents, respectively, responding that “there is no climate change.”
- Business customers more engaged in sustainability than residential customers: On average, business utility customers are more aware and supportive of their local utility’s climate sustainability initiatives than residential customers.
- Highest-scoring utilities: NextEra Energy and Sacramento Municipal Utility District have the highest scores in 2020 with a score of 32 (on a 100-point scale).
The index is based on responses from more than 34,000 business and residential electric utility customers and was fielded from January through May 2020. Following is the full list of electric utility companies and cities that are evaluated, along with their index scores:
Utility Score
| NextEra Energy | 32 |
| Sacramento Municipal Utility District | 32 |
| Con Edison | 29 |
| CPS Energy | 29 |
| DTE Energy | 29 |
| Edison International | 29 |
| Portland General Electric | 29 |
| Puget Energy | 29 |
| Southern Company | 29 |
| Xcel Energy | 29 |
| L. A. Dept. of Water & Power | 28 |
| Sempra Energy | 28 |
| CMS Energy | 27 |
| Duke Energy | 27 |
| Emera | 27 |
| Pacific Gas and Electric | 27 |
| Pinnacle West | 27 |
| Salt River Project | 27 |
| Berkshire Hathaway Energy | 26 |
| Entergy | 26 |
| Exelon | 26 |
| Ameren | 25 |
| Dominion | 25 |
| OGE Energy Corp. | 25 |
| PSEG | 25 |
| National Grid | 24 |
| PPL Corporation | 24 |
| Eversource | 23 |
| WEC Energy Group | 23 |
| AEP | 22 |
| Evergy | 22 |
| Alliant Energy | 21 |
| Duquesne Light | 20 |
| FirstEnergy | 20 |
| Avangrid | 19 |
“Consumer awareness and support for the climate sustainability initiatives of their local electric utilities is low,” said Andrew Heath, senior director of utilities intelligence at J.D. Power. “Utilities need to address awareness if they hope to achieve the clean energy goals they’ve put in place for the next few decades. These efforts are going to cost money and will require support from rate payers and citizens. Without the support of their customers and other stakeholders, utilities may struggle to achieve their goals.”
