Half of UK adults would choose a smart appliance next time, energy department survey finds
The government's summer tracker shows 53% would pick a connected washing machine or dishwasher when replacing one, but fewer than half are comfortable letting a supplier decide when it runs.
By Daily Oracles News Team2 min read
Just over half of people in the UK say they would buy a smart appliance the next time a large machine in the home needs replacing, according to the latest Public Attitudes Tracker from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, published on Tuesday.
In the survey, 53% said they would be very or fairly likely to choose a smart washing machine, dishwasher or similar appliance when they next buy one. Only 15% said it was very likely, and 31% said they were unlikely to. The figure has not moved since summer 2025 and remains below the 56% recorded in summer 2024.
Smart appliances can be switched on remotely or set to run at times when electricity is cheaper, which is why they matter to the energy system as well as to the household bill. For suppliers, appliances that can wait for off-peak power are part of how time-of-use tariffs reach households that do not want to watch the clock themselves.
Who is interested, and who is wary
Interest was highest among people aged 25 to 44, at between 62% and 65%, compared with 40% of 16 to 24 year olds and 45% of those aged 65 and over. People with a personal income of £30,000 or more were more likely to say yes, at 61%, than those on lower incomes. Households that already have a smart meter were also keener, at 56% against 48% of those without one.
Owner-occupiers were more likely than renters to say they would not buy one, at 35% against 24%.
Awareness of smart appliances was 93%, but only 38% said they knew a fair amount or a lot about them.
The bigger hurdle may be control. Asked whether they would be comfortable with their energy supplier collecting data on how and when they use a smart appliance, 49% said yes. A slightly smaller share, 47%, were comfortable with the supplier controlling the times the appliance comes on, with their consent, to take advantage of cheaper periods. Almost a quarter, 23%, said they would not be at all comfortable with that, although that was down from 26% a year earlier.
Bills in the background
The fieldwork ran from 7 July to 12 August, a period that the department notes came just after the energy price cap rose by 13% in July, more than reversing a 7% cut in April. The cap rose by a further 4% this month, and another 9% increase is projected for January 2027.
Even so, worry about the cost of energy bills dipped over the summer. In all, 47% said they were very or fairly worried, down from 55% in the spring, and 17% were very worried. Worry tends to be lower in summer waves, when homes use less energy. Among people who said they were finding it difficult to get by, 53% were very worried.
The survey of around 3,200 adults was the 17th wave of the current series, which began in autumn 2021. The tracker now runs three times a year, and its winter wave carries the annual questions on heat pumps and other low carbon heating.
