Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | MARCH 2021 | 33 Customers Interview T he suggestion in the Energy White Paper that customers should be automatically switched to the cheapest tari available (unless they opt out) – rather than their current supplier's default tari – has been met with dismay by some in the industry, but it is welcomed by Citizens Advice's principal policy manager Elizabeth Blakelock. "Opt-out switching is a really exciting idea to explore, about how you make sure people are bene„ ting from the market. We set out in an options paper the pros and cons. A lot of cons around opt-out switching are around logistics – the challenge of moving that number of accounts between suppliers," she says. The paper When the Cap No Longer Fits explores the issue of protecting consum- ers once the price cap comes to an end, with mass opt-out collective switching being one option. Progressively auctioning o the accounts of disengaged customers should, the paper argues, deliver good price outcomes for eligible consumers. The large number of par- ticipants in the market should, subject to auction design, lead to a "high degree of competition for new accounts, driving good prices". Such a solution could be potentially quite scalable. For example, it could start o by only auctioning the very long- term disengaged, and then widen if early results are positive, the paper suggests. Yet weaknesses highlighted by the report include concerns that if auctions deliver good prices, they may undermine incentives on consumers to shop around for themselves. Furthermore, without explicit consumer engagement the industry does not know what they want, and there may be legitimate good reasons why consumers are happy with their current supplier. However, Blakelock says: "It may be that if people were regularly switching and have a good experience multiple times because they're doing the opt-out switch, that they become familiar with switching and are more likely to do so. We don't have the evidence for that but it might be that any worries about switching could be alleviated. "We certainly know that people are put o switch- ing again in the future a' er a bad experience. Perhaps I can speculate that a' er a good experience they might be more likely to engage? When we lay out these options one of the important strengths of the model is that it should deliver a good price outcome, and the number of people would massively increase." Smoothing out the customer journey As Citizens Advice's principal policy manager, Blakelock knows all too well the massive impact Covid has had on consumers. The pandemic has plunged households who have never before been considered vulnerable into debt with their energy supplier. "People are really worried. Whatever topic they're getting in touch with us or their supplier about, there is a real heightened anxiety," she says. Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, Blake- lock reveals her thoughts on how companies can better manage vulnerable consumers. Covid-related customer confusion is one of many areas of worry thrown up by the crisis. She believes companies need to ensure there is clar- ity around how to actually access the help available to those in need, to improve the customer journey. "The bad practice from suppliers is not considering the journey, how people can get from asking for help to actually getting it," she says. This, says Blakelock, became especially evident during the „ rst lockdown when customers with genuine reasons for contacting their supplier became confused when automated messages informed them the retailer was only accepting calls in emergency cases. "The customer had interpreted that as there was a „ re, or gas safety risk. They hadn't actually said what an emergency case would include," she explains. She adds that the charity has seen cases where a lack of internet access has resulted in customers struggling to access the warm home discount due to suppliers attempting to sign up eligible consumers online, high- lighting the need for an omni-channel approach with the option of telephone services. "If you think about an 'ability to pay' conversa- tion, the way that you're interacting there, the kind of questions you need to pose as a supplier to understand someone's circumstances, that to me does lend itself very well to voice, or an interaction at least," says Blakelock. Adam John, reporter "Opt-out switching is a really exciting idea to explore, about how you make sure people are benefi ting from the market." Elizabeth Blakelock, PRINCIPAL POLICY MANAGER, CITIZENS ADVIVCE around logistics – the challenge of moving that number of accounts between suppliers," she says. When the Cap No Longer Fits explores the issue of protecting consum- ers once the price cap comes to an end, with mass opt-out collective switching consumers. The large number of par- ticipants in the market should, subject to auction design, lead to a "high degree of competition for new accounts, driving Such a solution could be potentially quite scalable. For example, it could start o by only auctioning the very long- term disengaged, and then widen if For Adam John's full inter- view with Elizabeth Blakelock, visit https://utilityweek.co.uk

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