Consumer attitudes to utility products: a consumer behaviour perspective

Recent figures released by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI, 2001a) suggest that, on average, combined household utility bills in the UK have fallen by £129 since 1996 (DTI, 2001b). This reduction has been attributed to the beneficial impact of competition within the telecoms, gas and electricity markets, extending choice among consumers and provoking rivalry and price reduction among suppliers. This “success” represents to advocates of the process the fulfilment of a key objective of the privatisation of these industries; that market discipline would produce operating efficiency and so ensure that the “goods and services preferred by the consumer...