Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | OCTOBER 2021 | 33 Customers in association with UKPN and Thames to roll out shared PSR UKPN and Thames announced in July that they were sharing data on vulnerabil- ity. At Utility Week's Consumer Vulnerability and Debt conference the company explained that it was now opening up their Essential Sharing Network to more water companies and local authorities. Giulia Privitera, social sustainability strategy and programme manager at UKPN, told the conference: "There's been a lot of discussion across the industry about how this can be done but we believe it's now time for action." She added: "We need ‡ rst movers to demonstrate how this can be done step by step." Olivia Worthington, partnerships lead at Thames Water, said the two com- panies had worked with Auriga Services to develop technology that "allows the lawful, secure and, importantly, con‡ dential transfer of priority services data". She added: "Now we have developed the Essential Sharing Network, we are pleased to say that many others are interested. We're talking about London bor- oughs, utilities, the vulnerability registration service and ‡ re brigades across our region and nationally. They can see how it adds value to their own customers and want to work together so we're at a really important point now. "This is maturing into a product the industry can own. It's not Thames Water's, we need to build this for the industry to own, to give that value back. We'd like to develop it alongside new industry standards as they come on board." News from the conference Speaker presentations and comments in panel discussions sparked a range of news stories in Utility Week's website. Here are excerpts from a few: addressed if companies are to be in a robust and con‡ dent position to do the right thing for struggling customers. Then too, there was some lively debate around what good should look like in vulnerable customer strategies this winter, with some pointed comments made by the Institute of Customer Service's Jo Causon about a lingering tendency for utilities to use the pressures of the pandemic as an excuse for repeated failures to provide appropriate customer support. This said, the legacy of Covid for cus- tomer service strategy is still unfolding. Mul- tiple speakers pointed out how a poor level of understanding about the seriousness and extent of challenges posed by long Covid mean that it's hard to shape any meaningful plan for how to address the issues this may raise both for customers and employees who may be personally impacted or who will have to face chronic pressure in the workplace as they deal with higher volumes of emotive and complex customer interactions. As the event progressed, the focus of speakers moved from strategy to practice, with insightful discussion of the ways in which new approaches to data sharing and technology applications can help utilities get ahead of vulnerability and debt challenges. As ever, the potential positive impact of creating a shared, cross-sector vulnerability register raised its head, and there was news of real and tangible progress in shaping what such a register might look like from Thames Water and UK Power Networks (see opposite). Such demonstrations of the feasibility of vulnerable customer data sharing are criti- cal, it was agreed. For while pioneers in this area are adamant that data can be shared e" ciently and in legally and ethically robust ways, an audience poll indicated that many still perceive there to be major challenges involved, most notably in relation to legal and regulatory issues, but also in relation to operational and process barriers, all of which put dampeners on the con‡ dence and enthusiasm of companies to take bold data sharing steps. As the event drew to a close, the resound- ing call to action from speakers was for utili- ties to unite to overcome uncertainties and doubts about how to help customers more e" ciently and e• ectively – with knock-on positive outcomes for the organisational resilience. "Collaboration must be our watchword," said one speaker, and current economic and market conditions may ‡ nally provide the driver to make it happen with pace and clar- ity of purpose. Jane Gray, content director Utilities 'cannot continue to use Covid as an excuse' A customer service expert warned utilities they cannot get away with blaming poor performance on Covid or Brexit. Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service, pointed to evi- dence that a˜ er an initial wave of high satisfaction during the ‡ rst few months of the pandemic, consumers were now becoming more demanding and less likely to be paci‡ ed when they encounter problems. Causon cited ‡ ndings from the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index that 24 per cent of customers felt companies had "used the Covid-19 situation as an excuse for lower levels of service". She added: "The latest UKCSI has shown that organisations have got better at dealing with issues but not necessarily at preventing those issues happening in the ‡ rst place. In many ways customers are less tolerant. "Now is a really important time, as we're heading into the autumn period, to take stock and look at the lessons, in order to really focus on what's going to be a challenging period." Customer service: Invest in people, not tech alone Technology alone cannot resolve customer service challenges, the chief executive of the Energy Ombudsman Matthew Vickers said at the conference, as he urged companies to invest in the human element as well as technology platforms. He stressed that companies should invest in customer service. Acknowledging the di" cult trading conditions for retailers, Vickers said investing in customer support agents would help consumers through the transi- tion that utilities are on. He added that building trust requires legitimacy and credibility to bring all consumers on the journey. He said this would require "a di• erent kind of skill set, di• erent support and di• erent leadership". Vickers said the watchdog would be closely watching how e• ective tech-led customer service platforms can be as they are adopted widely by more suppliers. "They were o˜ en developed for a particular customer base of tech-savvy, enabled, engaged consumers in the market," Vickers said. "Now they are being adopted by companies with a larger legacy base, which is interesting because it's the ‡ rst time some of these platforms will be reaching a di• erent type of cus- tomer base."

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