Changing Energy Supplier on the Market with a Strong Position of Incumbent Suppliers—Polish Example

• Main Authors: Dariusz Dudek, Marcin Lipowski, Ilona Bondos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Energies
• Subjects: energy suppliers; incumbent suppliers; switching supplier; customer retention; customer loyalty; marketing
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/13/3933

The purpose of the study is to identify factors affecting the intention to change an energy supplier. This is in a country, Poland, where competition in the energy market has been intensifying over several years, but incumbent suppliers still have an extremely strong position on the market, and the tendency to change an energy supplier is relatively low. The survey was conducted in 2020 on a sample of 1216 adults. The research results were used for a multigroup SEM (Structural Equation Modelling) analysis using AMOS 26. The main findings indicated a strong impact on a general image of a company, as well as the lack of importance of a green image of the current energy supplier. In the general research approach, there are no visible differences in the impact of the perceived price transparency on the intention to switch the supplier. However, taking into consideration two groups (a low energy bill vs. a high energy bill), some interesting differences are visible. In the markets with low consumers’ intention to switch, the strong position of incumbent suppliers is due to their exceptionally strong image in these markets. Spending time on maintenance is the biggest disadvantage for new energy suppliers who, when entering the market, have to look for differentiators.