Utility Week

Customers UTILITY WEEK | 31ST MAY - 6TH JUNE 2019 | 25 Recently-introduced EU data protection rules are making it "hugely difficult" to identify vulnerable customers, Dermot Nolan has told MPs. Under cross examination by the House of Commons' public accounts committee, the Ofgem chief executive highlighted his concerns that the GDPR (general data protection regulation) rules are hampering efforts to share ENERGY EU data protection rules 'hampering' efforts, says Ofgem boss information with other utilities that could make it easier to spot vulnerable customers. Suppliers need some form of consent from customers to share their information, Nolan said, with the picture having become "much more difficult" since the implementation of the tightened up GDPR regime last year. For example, Nolan said Ofgem has "no legal basis" to share information about vulner- able customers on the Priority Services Register. He said the government's Energy Data Taskforce is due to report within weeks. The Ofgem chief also gave the committee an update on work to prepare for the liŠing of the price cap on standard variable tariff bills, due in 2023 at the latest. He said this work is Ofgem's This week 2,000 complain about Solarplicity in 2019 More than twice as many complaints as last year, but customer service is 'considerably improved' Solarplicity has attracted almost twice as many complaints so far this year than it did during the whole of 2018, the Energy Ombudsman has revealed. The figures follow the news that Ofgem decided not to confirm the provisional order it issued to Solarplicity in February over customer service issues. However, the supplier is still subject to a separate order that covers feed-in-tariff payments to generators. So far this year, the ombudsman has received 2,009 complaints about Solarplicity compared with 1,035 dur- ing the whole of 2018. It received 478 complaints about the company in April – a 1,200 per cent increase on the total for the same month last year, when it received 36. Matthew Vickers, chief executive at the Energy Ombudsman, said: "Billing, switching and customer service have been the main drivers of complaints. "We have also seen a significant problem with remedy implementation, whereby Solarplicity fails to take the steps we require of it to put things right for the customer within the specified timeframe." Ofgem said: "The supplier has significantly improved its customer service arrangements in relation to com- plaints handling and the switching process… Ofgem still has some concerns in relation to how it treats vulnerable customers and those struggling to pay their bills. "If Solarplicity does not improve in these areas, Ofgem reserves the right to take further enforcement action." Solarplicity said: "For the 12 weeks of the provisional order, which Ofgem liŠed, the number of complaints we received and resolved actually fell week-on-week. In May we reached our lowest recorded levels yet, with 95 per cent of complaints resolved in less than ten days." AJ ELECTRICITY 'Involve EV drivers in charging schemes' Citizens Advice has called for the electric vehicle (EV) and energy sector to put consumers at the heart of design as new charging methods are developed. The consumer champion has developed a set of recom- mendations based on drivers' attitudes towards new smart charging schemes. They include guarantees on aspects such as battery health and commitments that customers should be able to switch schemes, complain, and keep track of their data easily. The consumer group has also urged the energy and EV sectors to make sure charging schemes are easy to understand, quick to set up, intuitive to use, and accessible for people who are not digitally savvy. It also calls for charging schemes to take into account the needs of people with mobility issues and small businesses that may not have the time and resources to actively engage in smart charging compared with large companies. The call by Citizens Advice comes just days aŠer actor and EV advocate Robert Llewellyn called for more people to speak out against what he calls the "fear, uncertainty and doubt" surrounding EVs. Speaking at Utility Week Live in Birmingham, Llewellyn, who is best known for playing Kryten in the BBC sitcom Red Dwarf as well as having his own YouTube channel dedicated to EVs, said it was a "total fabrication" to sug- gest the vehicles are not ready for mass take-up. Citizens Advice chief execu- tive, Gillian Guy, said: "If the evolution of new charging sys- tems is to be a success, drivers need to be involved and listened to from the start." ENERGY Sandys: regulate for consumers Regulation should focus on the behavour of consumers as the utilities market evolves, accord- ing to former MP Laura Sandys. Sandys, now chief executive of policy thinktank Challenging Ideas, was speaking at Utility Week Live in Birmingham last week as part of a session explor- ing the future of regulation. She suggested the industry is "looking at the future but still dealing with the regulation of the past". Sandys said we are moving from a centralised system to a "massively dispersed one". "Consumers are changing dramatically and as a result we have to regulate for how con- sumers consume and not how business is organised." Sandys discussed how the industry was privatised in business sector silos and then created consumer protection. But she said there should be a greater focus on "for whom we regulate and placing the consumer right at the heart of everything we do". Vulnerable customers were of particular concern "absolute priority" for the next two to three years. Price caps are "not perfect", he said: "They tend to have quite positive short-run effects but in the long run can be gamed and of limited effectiveness." Vulnerable customers are likely to require some form of protection from the market once the broader price cap has been phased out.

• Cover