For more than 15 years now, the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) has segmented U.S. consumers by their electricity-related attitudes and behaviors to help electricity providers and other industry stakeholders, including consumer advocates and regulatory staff, better understand and meet their needs.

With the “Consumer Pulse and Market Segmentation – Wave 9” research, released in August 2025, we segmented consumers who are responsible for paying their electric bills into four attitudinal groups: Turnkey Comfort, Tech-Cautious Savers, Curious and Capable, and Informed and Engaged.

To provide a deeper look at American consumers, we also analyzed the survey data through three demographic lenses. The three papers in the resulting Customer Insights Spotlight Series examined the Gen Z generation, low-income consumers and the differences between urban, suburban and rural consumers.

This month’s blog highlights three key findings from the Customer Insights Spotlight Series that will have considerable implications for electricity providers in 2026.

1. Gen Z is tech-friendly but skeptical of their electricity providers.

While Gen Z is much more tech-friendly than other generations and more likely to support initiatives that benefit society at large (including grid modernization and renewable energy), there’s also some bad news. Gen Z tends to view their electricity providers as noticeably less trustworthy, satisfactory and reliable compared to older generations, particularly Baby Boomers.

On a 10-point scale, Gen Z respondents rated their providers 7.0 on trust and 7.2 on satisfaction, slightly lower than Millennials/Gen X at 7.2 and 7.3, respectively, but considerably below Boomers at 7.5 for both. The greatest discrepancies, however, arose around reliability. Gen Z respondents rated their providers 7.3 out of 10, while Millennials/Gen X rated them a 7.8 and Boomers scored them 8.1 out of 10.

These findings signal a potential engagement gap that electricity providers will need to close as Gen Z becomes a larger share of their customer base.

2. Low- and moderate-income households are struggling with their bills.

In the “Meeting the Needs of Low-Income Households” research, we analyzed the survey data using income definitions from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which combine total household income and household size. The low-income range used in this paper starts at $27,000 of annual income for a single-person household and rises to $51,000 for a household with eight people.

The survey found that 48% of respondents in the low-income category are struggling to pay their electricity bills. Additionally, about a third (34%) of survey respondents in the low- to medium-income category are struggling with their bills. This income definition goes up to $41,000 for a single-person household and $61,000 for a household of four.

Affordability will be a cornerstone issue for providers in 2026 and is clearly impacting a wider range of Americans than in recent years.

3. Consumers in rural, suburban and urban areas share much in common.

Given the geographic differences among these three areas – and how those differences shape daily life – we were somewhat surprised to find significant commonalities among consumers as we explored their energy-related behaviors, concerns and attitudes.

Across all three groups, consumers shared priorities around affordability, concerns about rising prices, the most common energy efficiency actions taken at home, preferred sources of energy efficiency information and more. About one-third of consumers in each geographic area said that saving money on their electric bills is of the utmost importance and that electricity providers should prioritize keeping rates affordable. Consumers were also aligned on the importance of grid reliability and resiliency.

When it comes to these big-picture issues, geography makes only a modest impact on consumers.

Like this past year, but perhaps to a greater extent, 2026 is poised to present many challenges to U.S. consumers and the electricity providers that serve them. By listening to consumers, providers can develop programs that keep the lights on and mitigate increases in the cost of electricity, while maintaining the customer satisfaction gains that have been hard won in recent years.

To learn more about U.S. consumers and our recommended steps for engaging the four new segments, read the “Consumer Pulse and Market Segmentation – Wave 9” report here.