Utility Week

Customers UTILITY WEEK | 17TH - 23RD JANUARY 2020 | 27 Severn Trent will provide £10 million to fund community projects that benefit local people and improve the water cycle as it puts public service at the heart of its business. More than 300 projects and charities have already expressed an interest in the fund, which launched this month and will run for five years. The fund was created a•er WATER Severn Trent makes £10 million available for community projects the company asked its custom- ers what they wanted to see their water company doing. Daisy Powell, the company's community fund manager, told Utility Week: "The key thing cus- tomers wanted from a fund was to improve wellbeing – that's why we came up with people, places and environment. "The overall key theme is to improve community wellbeing and it's exciting to make a real difference in the communities we serve. "As a water company we encourage applicants to include water in some way, such as river restoration or creating sustainable drainage. It's not essential for an application but we encourage the connection," Powell said. The categories include This week Ofgem: use DCC or face customer ban New customer warning for suppliers who aren't yet users of the Data Communications Company Nine energy suppliers may be banned from taking on any more customers unless they become users of the Data Communica- tions Company (DCC), Ofgem has warned. In an announcement on 10 January, the energy regulator said it was consulting on whether to issue the nine with final orders requiring them to become users as required by the standard licence conditions. The suppliers in question are: Ampoweruk; Better Energy Supply; Daligas; Enstroga; Entice Energy Supply; Euston Energy Ltd (trading as Northumbria); Green Energy Supply; Symbio Energy; and UK National Gas. If the final orders are issued, each supplier would be required to become a DCC user by 31 March this year and would be banned from taking on new customers from that date if they failed to do so. The order would remain in place until the supplier becomes a DCC user. All suppliers were required to become DCC users from 25 November 2017, or on exiting the controlled market entry process, to enable the enrolment of first-generation smart meters (SMETS1) and drive the installation of next- generation (SMETS2) smart meters. Until these nine suppliers are DCC users, customers with a DCC-connected smart meter who switch to any of those suppliers will lose the functionality of their smart meter on switching, leaving meters operating in "traditional" mode. Ofgem says this causes consumer detriment and could undermine confidence in the smart meter programme and switching process. Further enforcement action will be considered by the regulator if the suppliers fail to comply with any final orders issued, meaning licences could be revoked. AJ ENERGY Ofgem investigating whether Utilita has breached PPM cap Utilita Energy is under investiga- tion into whether it overcharged customers covered by the pre- payment meter (PPM) price cap. Ofgem announced on 9 January that it was investigat- ing whether customers were charged above the permitted level of the cap between May and September last year. The PPM price cap is tem- porary and came into effect on 1 April 2017. It applies to PPM customers on a non-fixed deal and without an interoperable smart meter. Suppliers can price to the level of the cap or below it, but cannot charge more. The regulator stressed that the opening of the investiga- tion does not imply that it has made any findings about non- compliance by Utilita. Utilita was formed in 2003 and is one of the larger chal- lenger brands. It has recently taken on thousands of custom- ers through the supplier of last resort (SoLR) process as fellow challenger brands have ceased trading and exited the market. Last year it was named as SoLR for Our Power and Eversmart Energy. ENERGY Failures see switches back to big six Fears over supplier failures have led to an increase in customers switching from challenger energy brands to larger players, the boss of an auto-switching service has claimed. A total of 17 challenger suppliers have ceased trading since the start of 2018. Meanwhile, the number of customers switching their provider has increased, with 2019 set to be another record year for switching. Yet Mark Gutteridge, managing director of Flipper, believes customers are moving back to the larger brands for security. "When you look at the detail it shows that people are now switching for security rather than savings, and that is a great shame. "The number of switches from larger to smaller suppliers was flat year on year and actually fell in the second half of the year, while the number of households moving back to a larger supplier increased." These figures do show a rise in the number of switches from small to large suppliers in the second half of 2019, as well as a similar increase in the second half of 2018. From January to November 2019, there was a 34 per cent rise in the number of consumers making the move from a small supplier to a large one, compared with the same period in 2018. A Utilita spokesman said: "We are aware Ofgem has opened an investigation and will assist the regulator in every way we can." Tool kit: smart meters need connection to DCC projects that help people lead a healthier life and gain new skills; projects that help to create better places to live in and use; and projects that will protect the environment as well as giving people better access to it, or to help care for it. The fund has been set aside from the company's profits and money will be allocated by an independent panel of customers.

• Cover