Students are wasters, its official!

Students are still living up to the caricatures of Rik and Vyvyan, made famous in TV sitcom ‘The Young Ones’, ignoring greener housemates and wasting energy, according to new research.

The poll of 500 students by E.ON, one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies reveals that:

- Half (50%) admit to using the central heating to dry wet clothes, cranking up heating costs;
- A third (36%) of students are in the habit of leaving the heating on all night;
- 15% have gone out clubbing and left their lights on;
- One in five (19%) have forgotten to unload the washing machine and had to re-wash the same clothes again.

On average these wasteful habits amount to £137 wasted, per student, per academic year. Unsurprisingly, two-thirds (66%) of students receive a nasty surprise with their first utility bill being higher than they’d budgeted for.

Behavioural psychologist Dr Linda Papadopolous, who analysed the research, says. “As students move out of halls of residence and their parents’ homes they are provided with the freedom to act as they desire without prior experience of the consequences. Whilst fashion and music tastes may have changed, the basic four types of personality identified by Ben Elton in the Young Ones can still be found today.”

The four typologies and their behaviours are identified by Dr Papadopolous as:

The Hippy (Neil)
Motivated by ideals, this individual often assumes a caring role within the house and becomes the focus of other housemates scorn as they rebel against authority. Around a quarter (22%) of the student population fits this category and the research highlights that they are most likely to share meals with their housemates and try harder than most when it comes to saving energy.

The Punk (Vyvyan)
Characterised by their defiance of social norms, punks appear to struggle to identify those things they do agree with. Whilst they might like the idea of being green and helping to save the environment, Punks are fairly clueless, won’t go out of the way to help their greener housemates, and are likely to be distracted by alternative pursuits.

The Sage (Mike)
Often an older student, this individual is always coming up with bright ideas to avoid spending money. Broadly speaking they think energy saving is important, but only as a means to save cash for things they consider a higher priority, such as socialising and going away on holiday. They are aware that saving energy is worthwhile but don’t go out of their way to do so.

The Anarchist (Rik)
Looking to excite revolt in every aspect of their lives, anarchists are keen to avoid being involved in anything that adds to the communal good. They have no interest in conserving energy whatsoever, and as a result are much more inclined to do things like turning the heating on whilst leaving the windows open and leaving their music or TV on and going out for the evening.

The research shows that nothing can match the impact of a parent’s watchful eye. Four out of ten (41%) students said they would be more likely to try to save energy in the home if they knew their parents were monitoring their bills.

E.ON’s Peace of Mind Payments service lets parents take control of managing and paying the bills on behalf of their children. This allows them to play a part in looking after their energy bills and provides a chance to talk through attitudes and approaches to energy saving.

For more information visit eon-uk.com.