Utility Week

Customers UTILITY WEEK | 31ST JANUARY - 6TH FEBRUARY 2020 | 27 Northumbrian and United Utilities (UU) – the two compa- nies championing the Public Interest Commitment (PIC) on affordability – have set out ambitious programmes to help customers struggling to pay bills. UU has expanded its social tariffs to help 13,000 people get out of water debt and aims to increase this to more than 300,000 over the next five years. WATER UU and Northumbrian demonstrate commitment to affordability Meanwhile, Northumbrian has formed a partnership with debt management charity StepChange to assist customers behind with payments. UU chief executive Steve Mogford and Northumbrian's Heidi Mottram champion the industry-wide commitment to bill affordability. As part of Water UK's PICs, the sector pledged to assist households that struggle with bills and to end water poverty by 2030. UU has committed to provid- ing £71 million through its affordability schemes, which assist people behind on their bills and offer debt support. The 13,000 people who cleared their debts since last year have been on a Payment Matching Scheme, which sees UU match customers' commit- This week Price cap 'will be difficult to remove' Panel says cap is resulting in savings for some customers, but that suppliers are feeling the pinch It will be "really hard" for the government to take away the price cap now it has been intro- duced, Ombudsman Services' director of regulatory affairs has warned. At the Utility Week Customer Summit in London on 22 Janu- ary, Ed Dodman gave his views as part of a panel discussion concerning the future of the price cap. As the law stands, the cap will be reviewed annually until 2023, when it will cease to apply. The panel discussed the benefits the cap has brought, such as savings for customers, as well as the negative aspects for suppliers, such as the increased pressure on their finances. Dodman added that both the positive and negative results of the cap happen at different times. He said: "The thing with the price cap is you get an instantaneous benefit on price for some customers. "The other effects are more nuanced and delayed. So actually, making that trade-off is very difficult, espe- cially when the benefits and dis-benefits are happening at different times." Dodman later added that if the cap squeezes suppli- ers financially, less money is available for them to help vulnerable customers. Ofgem's director of conduct and enforcement, Anthony Pygram, said large suppliers will hopefully soon see an end to the "pain phase" caused by the cap. "I suspect from what I see when I talk to suppliers, some are going through an initial sort of pain phase. And that pain will hopefully come to an end soon and… you can start driving forward – on the same basis as suppliers who started off with a very different cost base." AJ ENERGY Consumers unsure of their effect on bills Despite the installation of smart meters in millions of British homes, most consumers remain unsure about the impact of their behaviour on their energy bills, research from Ofgem has suggested. This confusion was one of the findings from meetings held during the second wave of the regulator's Consumer First Panel, which comprised 100 household customers with a range of tariffs, locations, demographics and incomes. Panellists agreed that con- sumers should be encouraged to reduce pressure on the electri- city network by shiŸing usage away from peak periods. How- ever, they struggled to identify what habits they could or would be willing to change personally. High users of energy – oŸen families with children – expressed the greatest scepti- cism over their ability to change their behaviour; for example, due to the need to cook meals during the evening and wash clothes frequently. Most panellists agreed a "tangible financial incentive" would be needed to incentivise behaviour change, and that rewards, rather than penalties, would be more effective. Some of those who had already tried to reduce their consumption, expressed frustra- tion that they had not seen a noticeable impact on their bill. Many of those with smart meters said they had also expected to see a reduction following the installation but it had likewise failed to materialise. A majority wanted their electricity bill to be made more transparent so they knew exactly how much electricity was being used by different appliances. WATER Retailers 'guilty of over-promising' Water retailers in the non- domestic market have been guilty of over-promising and under- delivering to customers, a Utility Week conference has heard. Nish Dattani, managing director of retailer First Busi- ness, told the Water Customer Conference on 23 January that much of the reputational damage in the market had been self-inflicted. Meanwhile, Claire Yeates, director at water management specialist Waterscan, accused retailers of seeking to blame "legacy issues" for ongoing problems around accurate consumption data. However, there was consen- sus that aŸer almost three years, the industry is finally uniting to move in the right direction. Phil Marshall, deputy chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said: "Things are definitely moving forward. We are just about to publish Q3 [2019] data and for the third quarter in a row, complaints to us are down." Turn up the heat: pressure on supplier finances ments to pay bills and contribute towards their arrears. If the cus- tomer continues to make regular payments, any remaining debt will be cleared aŸer two years. Northumbrian has committed to supporting households with debt management and reduction with StepChange. The partner- ship assists customers with reducing arrears and resched- ules payments to ease debt.

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