Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | NOVEMBER 2022 | 23 Customers ernment's U-turn on the length of support that will be offered under the Energy Price Guarantee announced on 18 October (a•er the roundtable had taken place) means all options must once again be on the table. Two issues that dominated the conversa- tion in relation to energy were the need for a social tariff and the challenge of dealing with prepayment meter (PPM) customers. On the latter, a head of affordability at a large supplier said: "It still fries my brain that if you're a PPM customer you pay more, when the customers that are in the prepay- ment space are typically vulnerable. "We can only offer one PPM tariff so it's not even possible to create a social tariff and leave that PPM tariff out there – it's just not possible on the meter." At Utility Week's Consumer Vulnerabil- ity & Debt Conference, which preceded the roundtable, Citizens' Advice had called for forced PPM installations for the vulnerable to be banned. An energy retailer taking part in the roundtable supported the move but added: "I would like to give them the option to have a PPM because it does help them budget, but that needs to be accompanied by a way to get them through the cost of living crisis. "Could we essentially treat them like a Direct Debit customer – where they pay us £150 all the time and we see their volume fluctuate – but if they fall off that arrange- ment there is the PPM? It's a bit like a Direct Debit, so if that fails you move to on demand billing." They added that the licence conditions around PPM installations remain constrict- ing, explaining: "We're not allowed to fit a PPM if we know that customer cannot afford the bill. So you end up in a kind of morato- rium for what is a very large proportion of customers, just from the licence condition. The second you do an income and expendi- ture [assessment] it's going to come back negative – at which point you're not sup- posed to put a meter on a wall." One attendee, a former regulator, pointed out that Ofgem still had the power to rein- state social tariffs, which all but disappeared from the market a•er a review a decade ago. They said: "Ofgem could reinstate that if it was thinking outside the box and being dynamic. It took something away that was working, now it should bring it back." The move was backed by a retailer who said: "A social tariff offers help directly to those that need it and customers understand it." Little and oen In the absence of these measures, what can the utilities sector do to mitigate the worst impacts of the cost of living crisis on con- sumers? Experts across both energy and water agreed that there was no one-size-fit- all solution for vulnerable customers and that companies need to be prepared to work with what consumers can afford. One representative from the water sec- tor said: "Something we learnt from Covid is the importance of talking to the customer and finding out what they can pay and being flexible enough to respond to that. We can't ignore the situation but we also can't lose that conversation." An energy retailer added that "there is an opportunity for energy with Direct Debits", adding: "If you're a customer on demand and you're staring down the barrel of a £5,000 bill then £250 a month actually feels a lot better. Then we can have the conversation about consumption and try to make real in-roads." This consumption conversation was one highlighted by several attendees as being vitally important. A regulatory expert claimed that the water sector in particular must work harder to land that message. They said: "People can't refuse the reality, particularly on water – it's a limited resource and this is an opportunity to have that con- versation. Maybe people are in listening mode now in a way they haven't been in the past." The discussion concluded with a conver- sation around how teams are evolving and upskilling to meet new challenges. A representative from a water company stressed that it was key that affordability and vulnerability were being considered across departments – not just in areas like collec- tions. They also talked about the need to utilise technology to get support to custom- ers quicker but insisted: "We also need to build out our capabilities beyond digital, so we can still offer that human conversation – that's absolutely vital in times like these." A water retailer agreed that while their company had been increasingly using tools such as artificial intelligence to improve the customer journey "what's really needed is a bit more back to basics". They added: "The impact on business customers, and especially SME, can be overlooked but they have the potential to be a real problem child for the industry. If you look at the rises individually – energy, materials, lending – they're bad but together they're appalling. "So for us it's got to be about listen, talk, listen, talk – and try to convince them not to bury their heads. It's hard with water because it's not always top of their priority list." Meanwhile, an executive at an energy retailer said the company was trying dif- ferent ways to support its staff in dealing with increasingly desperate situations for customers. "A lot of people tell us it's hard to switch off so we have introduced warm down ses- sions to help them download their brain at the end of the day. They're only human and you can't help but be moved by some of the things you hear. Our staff really care but they can't solve everyone's problems in isolation." James Wallin, editor This roundtable took place on the back of the publication of a report by Utility Week and Mastercard exploring how utilities are innovating to improve their approach to tackling customer debt and the role technology is playing in accelerating this process. Download it here: https://utilityweek. co.uk/billing-and-payments-are-you-doing- enough-to-support-your-customers/ in association with

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