Utility Week

16 | AUGUST 2022 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Roundtable It's time to tackle vulnerability differently A new Utility Week report, produced in association with WNS, explores the role utilities must play to better identify and support vulnerable customers. U tilities must "not lose empathy" as the financial pressures on custom- ers continue to mount, according to water and energy leaders who attended a recent roundtable, hosted by Utility Week in association with WNS. In light of spiking interest rates and rising energy prices, the economic burden on many domestic and business customers is show- ing no signs of abating. However, for some customers, many of whom have never expe- rienced financial vulnerability before, the affordability issue is just beginning to be felt – and it is undoubtedly going to get worse. There was broad agreement during the debate that the current cost of living crisis is likely to extend into a protracted period of recession that will demand utilities remain agile and find new solutions to help customers navigate increasingly difficult circumstances. According to one water retail chief execu- tive, SMEs are most exposed to the current squeeze on finances. "We are not expecting to see a short, sharp shock, like in 2008. With the financial crash, a lot of businesses went bust overnight. Instead, I think it will be quite a long recession that will see more businesses go under over a longer period of time," they said. "It is particularly the smallest SMEs – micro businesses – that are feeling the pres- sure at the moment. Typically, where we see the first indications that customers are feel- ing pressure is through things such as can- celled direct debits. It is particularly those micro customers that are deciding to cancel their direct debit or starting to pay a bit more slowly." They explained that if a customer stops paying, the company responds by proactively contacting them to ask what it can do to sup- port them. "Are you struggling? Can we offer a payment plan? That is just our usual busi- ness practice for engaging with customers and making it as easy as possible for them to continue to engage with us," they added. Recognising customer needs As consumers' needs and behaviours change in response to the current climate, it is increasingly important for utilities to have confidence in their ability to understand and serve their customer base. Another water company attendee admit- ted that identifying customers who are genu- inely vulnerable is a significant challenge for utilities. "During the pandemic, we made our collections strategy a bit more sophisticated in terms of trying to split out customers who genuinely can't pay and those who just don't feel like paying," they explained. "We are almost fast-tracking the 'don't feel like paying' customer through to formal debt collection, then potentially a litigation route. Whereas, those who are in the 'can't pay' category will have a so"er journey with lots of prompts." They said it is equally difficult to identify customers who have some element of vulner- ability that is non-financial, insisting that utilities should also play an important role in supporting someone with mental or physical challenges. "It is about tailoring our customer ser- vices to that person's needs, in terms of the way we communicate and interact with them," they said. "Do they need a little more time if there is an engineer knocking on their door? Do we need to explain things in a par- ticular way? Do we need to talk them through their bills before issuing them, if they strug- gle to read certain documents?" There was agreement that any response to customers' varied and complex needs should be rooted in empathy – for both the custom- ers themselves and frontline staff. "It is incredibly complicated but it is so important not to lose empathy for the cus- tomer in the middle of that," said one util- ity director. "But it is also important to focus on the resilience of our people as well as how they are supporting customers through

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