Utility Week

Customers UTILITY WEEK | 31ST AUGUST - 6TH SEPTEMBER 2018 | 23 Business supplier Flogas Energy has announced plans to begin selling electricity as well as gas. As part of the move, the company has appointed Andrew Beasley to the newly created role of general manager for utilities. Flogas Energy was created in 2016 as an offshoot of Flogas Britain. Flogas Britain's manag- ing director Lee Gannon said: "For more than 30 years, Flogas ENERGY Flogas Energy plans to expand into electricity retail has been well-known as a pro- vider of off-grid fuels – includ- ing LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] and LNG [liquefied natural gas]. "We launched Flogas Energy to extend this trusted service to commercial mains gas custom- ers – both locally and nationally – and following its success the move into electricity feels like the natural next step for us." Andrew Beasley has worked in the energy industry for 28 years, and was a director at Microgen, Utilita and Flow Energy. Until recently he served as a director on the board of the trade association Energy UK, as well as chairing its retail committee and being part of its strategy and policy committee. "Flogas' track record in the commercial and domestic This week Thames surveys 1m customers for PR19 Water company quizzes a record number of customers as it prepares its 2020-25 business plan Thames Water has engaged with a "record" one million customers to help it develop its business plan for 2020-25, which will be unveiled on 3 September. Water companies have only a few days to finalise their plans for submission to Ofwat as part of the price review process for PR19. Thames started to engage with its customers nearly three years ago on topics that included customer service, leaks, wastewater and bills, the company said. Customers want the company to tackle leaks and reduce sewer flooding, treat them as individuals and be a responsible, transparent business. Thames said it wanted to "understand as much as possible" about these and other issues of concern "as early as possible" to shape the plan from the beginning. It engaged with customers through surveys and text messages, online and face-to-face. It interacted with groups including high-usage and small businesses, developers, vulnerable and low-income customers, those in different age groups and of various faiths. Chief executive Steve Robertson said: "Our proposals are a true reflection of what our customers have told us they want to see and we appreciate all the time they've taken to give us their opinions and advice." Thames Water used "innovative" techniques such as a "shape your water future" tool, which gave a range of options for trade-offs between service and price, analysis around ties between water services and happiness, and futurology, which anticipates a changing society and the impact on water requirements. Ofwat has four main themes in PR19: great customer service, affordable bills, resilience in the round and innovation. KP ENERGY Dragons' Den invests in auto-switch firm An energy auto-switching service has received the "best equity deal" in the 13-year his- tory of BBC's Dragons' Den. Founders of Look Aer My Bills, Henry de Zoete and Will Hodson, received offers from all five Dragons on the 19 August edition of the programme. Hod- son and de Zoete struck a deal with new Dragons Tej Lalvani and Jenny Campbell for the low- est amount of equity ever given away – 3 per cent for £120,000. Look Aer My Bills is a new type of energy switching service that "deals with the whole pro- cess" for customers. It automati- cally finds people the best deal from a supplier and switches them on to it. Co-founder de Zoete, previously a special adviser to Michael Gove, said: "Too oen families are being ripped off in the energy market but I'm con- fident we'll all look back in 15 years time and think it was crazy that people had to spend hours searching on comparison sites or calling up companies to get a good deal." Typically once a consumer's energy deal runs out, providers roll them onto standard variable tariffs, which are "significantly more expensive", the duo said. A user of the service is automatically moved to another deal when their current deal ends meaning the customer is "always saving". The free service, reported to be the largest of its kind in the UK, is saving users £253 on aver- age on their gas and electricity with just a "quick and easy" two minute sign-up, according to the company. When the show was recorded in April, the company had 6,000 customers, now it has more than doubled in size to more than 15,000 customers. ENERGY Scots need help to hit emissions targets Scottish consumers will need to make significant changes to the way they use energy if govern- ment emissions targets are to be met, a study has found. Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) says it believes the Scot- tish government needs to help citizens change their behaviour to tackle climate change. The report from its Consumer Futures Unit, which speaks for consumers across the regulated energy and water industries, identified seven key behaviours needed to reach the target of reducing greenhouse gas emis- sions by 90 per cent by 2050: l domestic heating upgrades, l energy efficiency retrofits, l installation of smart meters, l switching to electric vehicles or ultra-low emission vehicles, l adopting energy-saving behaviours (heat), l adopting energy-saving beh- aviours (electricity/water), and l purchasing energy-efficient appliances. Thames wants to understand customers' concerns off-grid markets is second-to- none," said Beasley, "and I look forward to helping ensure its entry into the electricity market and further growth in mains gas are just as successful. "As an energy supplier, our first job is to keep people con- nected and our customers happy, but in 2018 and beyond it's also vital that we evolve to provide a more rounded energy service."

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