報告書番号

Y07005

タイトル（和文）

英独仏需要家による電力自由化の評価と供給者選択行動の分析

タイトル（英文）

Assessment of Electric Retail Competition and Customer Choice of Power Suppliers in the UK, Germany and France

概要 （図表や脚注は「報告書全文」に掲載しております）

電力自由化の議論では、需要家にとってメリットがあるのかどうかという視点を忘れてはならず、そのニーズや満足度の現状、自由化後の変化、実際の変更行動などを客観的かつ定量的に把握、検証することが重要と考えられる。その際、自由化の面で実績のある欧州の事例が有用と期待される。本稿では、欧州で代表的な英独仏３国の需要家を対象にアンケートやインタビュー調査を行い、自由化に伴う供給者変更や対応状況などの実態を確認した。また、供給信頼度、電気料金、顧客サービス、企業イメージの４項目に着目し、自由化を需要家の視点から評価した。さらに、需要家による供給者の変更意向・行動に関する要因を明らかにした。

概要 （英文）

The European Union (EU) decided to open up Europe's electricity markets to competition and create a single European energy market. The electricity markets in the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, and France are the most representative in the EU. In this paper, we surveyed (1) customer satisfaction with price, supply reliability, customer services, and corporate image and (2) customer behavior toward electric power suppliers based on the results of a questionnaire administered to 4,805 residential and business customers in the UK, Germany, and France. We confirmed that 46% of residential and 74% of business customers had changed their suppliers, particularly in the UK, and 8% of residential and 14% of business customers had reverted to their original suppliers. It was recognized that numerous customers in the three countries had adopted certain fact-finding behavior with regard to power suppliers, such as "collecting information related to switching them" and "checking on how to switch them," on account of retail competition. We also confirmed that 48% of all customers in the UK, 23% of residential and 36% of business customers in Germany, and 53% of residential and 38% of business customers in France were satisfied with the price of their suppliers, while over 50% of all customers in the three countries were satisfied with customer services. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), we clarified that customer loyalty and switching costs would lead residential and business customers to continue their contracts with their suppliers. In its conclusion, this paper indicates that there were certain cause-and-effect relationships between supplier switching behavior and two factors: a commitment to the supplier, which was dependent on its marketing activities, and an expectation of retail competition, which was independent from such marketing activities.

報告者

キーワード