It takes a lot to be less popular than the banks, but electricity companies have managed it.
A regular Energy Consumers Australia survey, released on Wednesday, has found twice as many people think they're getting value for money from their bank and mobile phone provider as from their electricity retailer.
Just one-in-three people surveyed last September were satisfied with the value for money they got from their power bills.
Satisfaction levels dropped in every state and territory except Tasmania, with the highest falls recorded in the ACT and Victoria.
The highest proportion of satisfied customers was in South Australia, where 39 per cent gave positive responses.
And consumer confidence in their ability to choose the best power deal has dropped to new lows across the country.
Everywhere except Queensland, less than half the survey respondents were confident they had enough information to make good decisions about which electricity plan was best for them.
This has been a key focus for the federal government, which has pushed retailers to be more transparent in the information they give their energy customers about their bills and plans.
But householders were overwhelmingly happy everywhere except in WA with the reliability of their electricity connections, with between two-thirds and three-quarters saying they were satisfied.
Energy Consumers Australia says the message is overwhelming that people want to make sure their power bills are affordable.
"Consumers are telling us clearly that their primary concern is affordability and not one more dollar should be spent on new generation or the poles and wires than is necessary," chief executive Rosemary Sinclair said.
"People want comfortable homes, competitive businesses and bills that don't make them so anxious that they put off opening them."
Across the board, Australians were generally willing to change their behaviour or use energy-saving appliances to reduce their power usage - and their bills.
More than seven in 10 said they'd be happy to do this, especially in times of very hot weather, although almost three in 10 said they would only do so if given an incentive.
There was also a high amount of interest in battery storage systems, with nearly one-in-three householders looking into the idea.
Australian Associated Press
