Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | DECEMBER 2021 | 29 Customers Talking Points… Opinion Matthew Vickers Chief executive and chief ombudsman, Ombudsman Services services. Technology opens up the scope and repertoire of retailers and consumers alike, but only if it's accompanied by that trust mindset shi . It suggests a whole business e ort rather than a short-term, drag and drop • x. For the regulator a trust lens clari• es the importance of connections, culture and capability of the ecosystem. How can regulation grow con• dence in the system? What challenges, competences and concepts from inside and outside the sector might consciously build trust infrastructure? How can a regulator best champion trust and service innovation and create the optimum conditions for delivery? And where can government help to create a clear and consistent narrative around the industry which promotes and encourages trust from consumers and communities? Customer service in utilities and essential services is di€ cult and demanding by its nature. Complex questions of social welfare and social policy are e ectively in the hands of industry to deliver. We need a trusted gateway to the future. And in building a better, greener Britain we owe something to one of the great European super-state architects – Napoleon Bona- parte. For he reminds us of the importance and power of a nation of shopkeepers. The Napoleonic Warning M aybe Napoleon was right, just 200 years ahead of the curve. A fail- ure to "attend to the sea and com- merce", he warned, "will yet be your ruin as a nation. You were greatly o ended with me for having called you a nation of shopkeep- ers … no man of sense ought to be ashamed of being called a shopkeeper." As the seas rise, it is our ability as shop- keepers that stands between us and our ruin as a nation. Investment and innovation in our infra- structure can unlock the higher margin, lower carbon products and services which make up the net-zero transition. Yet it is in the real-life experiences of consumers and communities where the carbon reductions and rates of return from Whitehall policies and City business plans spring from the page to the embodied world. The Saudi Arabia of wind or the Silicon Valley of climate tech are inspiring models but neither place is famed for the most important asset in determining the pace, scope and success of the energy transition: trust. Decarbonising heat and transport calls for new modes of connecting, thinking and being – new infrastructure of trust as much as one of turbines or tech. Retailing is where penetration and engagement will be won or lost. Developing, earning and maintaining trust will create the conditions for sustain- able new markets, yet the current state of retail doesn't bode well for delivery. Retail delivers so many of the moments of truth in execution and is one of the natu- ral homes for conversations with consumers about the future. It is here that the system as a whole will build or erode the trust assets needed for economic growth and environ- mental recovery. Strengthening that interface, that bond between the uncertainties of the present and a promising future, needs a collective shi in mindset and approach from industry, from regulator and from government. How might recognising the power and value of trust challenge us? For industry there are risks and opportu- nities as consumers navigate an innovative and unfamiliar range of new o ers and ELECTRICITY Monthly electricity switches drop to lowest level since 2012 company showed how despite some record months, the overall trend over the past three years – as indicated by the moving average in blue – has been a slow decline. "Utilities need to talk about what they're doing inside their own organisations and how they're making themselves green too. Consumers don't want to buy from organisations that don't have sustainability at their roots." Jo Causon, CEO, Institute of Customer Service The number of requests for a change of electric- ity supplier was the lowest on record in October due to the continuing crisis gripping the energy market. Electralink's statistics show only 232,000 electricity switches were begun that month – 67% less than in October 2020 and the fewest in a calendar month since the company began collecting the data in 2012. The lowest previous low for change of sup- plier requests was in June 2014 when 240,000 were started. Multiple energy supplier failures were cited as being the key reason behind the decline, with price comparison websites having either limited options available or halting their ser- vices altogether. Although September saw 723,000 changes of suppliers started, the number of switches completed in October was only around 435,000 – 31% less than the same month last year and the lowest October number since 2015. Electralink said October usually returns a high number of completions due to annual contract cycles but the exit of small suppliers from the market had impacted the ability for voluntary switches to be completed. Furthermore, a chart published by the "Decarbonising heat and transport calls for a new infrastructure of trust as much as one of turbines or tech."

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