Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH MARCH 2019 | 13 Policy & Regulation "By doing the basics well today, the industry can win the trust and confi dence of tomorrow's energy consumer." Opinion Matthew Vickers, chief executive and chief ombudsman, Energy Ombudsman W hom can you trust? In 2019, it's a question that's more pertinent than ever. For most consumers, the answer seems to be no-one. Rachel Botsman's 2017 book Who Can You Trust? How Technology Brought Us Together – and Why It Could Drive Us Apart set about considering this question. She de€ nes trust as a "con€ dent relationship with the unknown" and I think that's very relevant for the energy sector. I'm struck by the mismatch between the exciting world of decarbonisation, decentralisation and new technology that I hear about at energy conferences and the risk-€ lled world of supplier failures, price caps and uncertainty around smart meters that people coming to the ombudsman for help speak about. I've spoken at several recent events, including the Utility Week Energy Customer Conference, about the dangers of seeing future consumers as falling out of the sky, fully formed with no memory – a kind of weird mix of Total Recall and Terminator. The reality is that the energy consumer of tomorrow is already here, walking among us. They‹are us. What this means is that unless we are building that con€ dent relationship with the unknown today, we can't expect it to be there tomorrow. Trust is a key corporate asset that will underpin innovation and investment. Would you trust a company to remotely manage when your washing machine went on and oŒ if it couldn't even send you an accurate bill? I‹wouldn't either. Trust is about competence and char- acter. Shortfalls in competence very quickly get read as character failings. What might be a glitch in a billing platform very quickly becomes a rip-oŒ through customers' eyes. So how can we as an industry help to build trust and give con- sumers the con€ dent relation- ship with the unknown that is a prerequisite of innovation? There is no quick € x or silver bullet, but here at the Energy Ombudsman we think we've got a key role to play by giving consumers con€ dence that there is somewhere they can go if they have an unresolved complaint. And we're making some changes designed to help us to perform that role eŒ ectively into the future. For example, we're investing in new ways of working, including a new case management system that lets both the consumer and the business see the other party's evidence as a complaint progresses. Built with transparency and openness in mind, the system also enables the consumer and the business to interact, communicate and ultimately settle the dispute directly for the € rst time – with no ombudsman inter- vention or involvement. The thinking behind this new approach is that, by resolving a complaint in a timely manner directly with the consumer, rather than having a decision imposed on you by a third party, it's surely more likely that you as the business will retain the trust (and therefore custom) of the consumer. Of course, because this is cheaper and more e" cient, we are able to charge a reduced case fee – freeing you up to invest more in customer service improvements. You will also have the opportunity to bene€ t from more meaningful data and more powerful insights. Meanwhile, € xing the problem within our system means the consumer can have con€ dence that their complaint has been seen, acknowledged and recorded by an o" cial external body. At the Energy Ombudsman we want to help busi- nesses to put more things right, more quickly than ever before. Ultimately, by helping suppliers improve their com- plaints handling and customer service more generally, our aim is to reduce the number of complaints coming to us in the € rst place. A— er all, prevention is better than cure. So how can energy suppliers ensure their customers have a con€ dent relationship with the unknown, so that they are receptive to innovative new products and services? The answer lies in the here and now. It's about accurate billing. It's about clear commu- nication and good customer service. It's about eŒ ective complaints handling so that, when things do go wrong, they are put right quickly. By doing these basics well today, the industry can win the trust and con€ dence of tomorrow's energy consumer.

• Cover