Utility Week

Customers UTILITY WEEK | 28TH SEPTEMBER - 4TH OCTOBER 2018 | 25 Consumer protection regulations should be urgently updated and extended to households that want to exploit new flexibilities presented by the evolution of the energy market, suppliers have urged. A new paper on flexible ser- vices, published by Energy UK, outlines a series of steps that should be taken over the next five years to facilitate the transi- ENERGY Suppliers call for consumer protection regulations to be expanded tion to a lower-carbon and more decentralised power system. It recommends the introduc- tion of consumer protections across energy services in line with existing selling protections and the developing code of con- duct for demand-side response. It says: "For aggregation and bundled services to maintain market success, surrounding protections and arrangements will need to be established ahead of avoidable problems. "As a matter of urgency, established consumer pro- tections from other areas of the energy market should be expanded and adapted to ensure that, regardless of the business model, consumers are protected." Energy UK says customers wishing to inject power into the This week CCWater scolds three firms for complaints Report reveals households made more than 2.1 million calls to resolve water problems last year Southern Water, Bristol Water and SES Water have all been warned to improve their customer service and will be required to show what action they are taking to reduce complaints. A report published by the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) on 20 September reveals households made more than 2.1 million calls to resolve problems last year. The water watchdog's annual complaints report shows that nine out of 21 water companies in England and Wales reported an increase in calls from customers to resolve problems – known as "unwanted" contacts. Four companies also reported an increase in written complaints from their customers, although the number to the whole industry fell by nearly 17 per cent. CCWater has immediately turned up the pressure on Bristol Water, Surrey-based SES Water and Southern Water for their "relatively poor performance". The three companies have been asked to provide the watchdog with quarterly reports highlighting what action they are taking to reduce complaints. Southern Water will be under scrutiny aer it failed to improve on its position as the industry's worst per- former for the two measures for a third successive year. CCWater said that was despite the company reducing written complaints by a fih. Bristol Water reported a 37 per cent rise in unwanted contacts and a 52 per cent increase in written complaints. CCWater is also concerned about the poor performance of SES Water, which reported a 21 per cent rise in unwanted contacts. Both water-only firms have been asked to report back to the watchdog by the end of October on what steps they have taken to improve their service. KP ENERGY Green Star hit with compensation bill Small supplier Green Star Energy has paid £679,283 in compen- sation and payments to the consumer redress fund aer mis- selling to customers and failing to provide annual statements. Industry regulator Ofgem said the company offered tariffs to 8,815 customers when visiting a bespoke page on price com- parison website Utility Discount, which was accessible only via an online advert. Green Star confirmed to Ofgem that Utility Discount acted as a sales channel for it and customers that arrived on the website through the online ad were only offered a Green Star Energy tariff if it was cheaper than their existing tariff. Some customers consequently did not realise that cheaper deals were available elsewhere. Only customers who arrived via the online ad whose current tariff was cheaper than any Green Star Energy tariff were shown a wide view of available tariffs. Green Star committed to paying £361,415 in compensa- tion to customers acquired through Utility Discount and has allowed them to switch away without being charged exit fees. The provider has also agreed to pay £151,376 to the consumer redress scheme for mis-selling to customers. In a separate issue, Green Star reported itself to Ofgem aer it failed to issue annual statements to some of its cus- tomers between August 2014 and November 2017. It has also agreed to pay a further £166,492 to the consumer redress fund in recognition of its failings. ENERGY Eon space project to tackle fuel poverty Eon has announced it is work- ing with the European Space Agency (ESA) and earth observa- tion specialist Astrosat to use satellite imaging data in a bid to tackle fuel poverty and carbon emissions. The project will use near real- time and archived data gathered from orbiting satellites – includ- ing optical sources, thermal- infrared for heat mapping and air quality and pollution tracking. The data will be combined with Astrosat's ThermCERT soware to help tackle issues such as housing conditions and insulation, air quality, and even traffic management. When the data is cross- matched with data on existing housing and vulnerable custom- ers the platform will provide local authorities with a street- level view of where improve- ments are most needed. This means they can better target their approaches to upgrading housing stock, optimising energy efficiency installations, improving air quality or easing congestion across communities. The system is expected to be developed for around 18 months, including a city-scale trial. Southern Water: failed to improve on its position system via energy storage or on-site generation, oen referred to as "prosumers", should not have to abide by generation licence conditions. But once a number of these prosumers have been brought together by an aggregator to create what it terms a "virtual power plant", the latter would be required to follow licensing and codes in its operations.

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