Are affordability concerns shaping your customers’ expectations?

While utility bills have long been a baseline concern, our Q2 2026 Utility Heartbeat poll reveals a stark divide between how customers view their bills today and their affordability concerns for the year ahead. A majority of residential customers now expect their bills to rise next year, creating a gap between current sentiment and future outlook that utilities cannot afford to ignore.

In our Q2 2026 survey of households nationwide, we explored the specific drivers of affordability perceptions and identified where customers believe utilities should focus their efforts to ease the burden. In this report, we explore:

• The Future Outlook: Why customer concern is forecasted to increase over the next twelve months and what is driving that lack of confidence.
• Attribution of Costs: The primary external and internal factors customers believe are currently pushing utility costs higher.
• Paths to Support: What customers want to see from their providers to manage long-term affordability.

As utilities balance customer expectations with energy system modernization requirements, understanding the "affordability heartbeat" of customers is critical for maintaining trust and institutional credibility.