Utility Week

10 | APRIL 2023 | UTILITY WEEK Interview people's incomes are in relation to tack- ling this problem. "We found too that for some people, it just seems an impossible task to bridge that gap." Relief is on the way with bills widely expected to fall this year to around £2,000 per annum. However this is the kind of figure that was already creating sleepless nights for those in fuel poverty pre-Ukraine invasion. Even before the post-pandemic surge in energy prices, people in fuel-poor households were struggling to make ends meet. Flint adds: "We should recognise the support that's been made available but many people were still finding it really difficult paying for their fuel bills and keeping warm before we had this surge in prices." Flint, who is Zooming in from south Yorkshire where she was an MP until losing her Don Valley seat at the last general election, was talking before the government decided to freeze the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) at £2,500 rather than raise it to £3,000 as threatened. A freeze was something she supported, but she was keen to point out that keeping the EPG at £2,500 is not sufficient for those on very low incomes when other help, including the £67 per month Energy Bills Support Scheme, are coming to an end. Flint says: "There is still an additional discussion to be had about other support, even if it [the EPG[ stays at £2,500, given some of the other support mechanisms that have been put in place to help people or coming to an end. "The £2,500 price guarantee is still too high. Even though it helped a lot of people, it wasn't on its own enough to protect those in fuel poverty. "We're heading into spring but people are still feeling shock waves from how much it's cost in the last year and that's likely to go on for some time." The 62-year-old's committee will be conducting its own research over the coming months into the lessons learnt from last year's intervention in terms of improving the delivery of fuel poverty schemes and support. This includes using the CfP's small research budget to commission work from consultancy London Econom- ics examining the impact of the support provided during the past winter. A clear lesson already for Flint is that the concen- trated nature of the fuel poverty gap, as uncovered by the CfP, underlines the case for a social tariff for low-income households when the EPG runs out in April next year. The CfP has yet to come to a view on how any social tariff should be structured but she is interested in a recent proposal by the Resolution Foundation thinktank that it could be fixed at two-thirds of whatever is the headline rate. While understanding the decision to provide blanket sums of money for every household due to the wider affordability challenges that the crisis sparked, Flint says the CfP has been very clear that additional support should be targeted at those who most need it. One of the big hurdles in terms of targeting, which has bedevilled initiatives like the Energy Company Obligation, has been how data matching can be used to ensure that low income working households get help, like those on benefits who are o¢en easier to identify. There are good reasons why departments may be reluctant to share data, the former shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change acknowledges. "Clearly, there are issues around protecting people's data. If you share data about someone's status in terms of benefits, not everyone's going to neces- sarily be happy with that," Flint adds. But these concerns mean there should be a big focus on working out how matching can be achieved in a way that doesn't undermine individu- als' rights to personal data, she says: "We have to find a way to deal with this because we are shooting ourselves in the foot if we're not able to." This is the kind of blunt speech that helped Flint to develop a reputation as a staunch critic of suppliers when serving in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet and later helping to lead the cross-party campaign for an energy price cap. Therefore it is hardly surprising that she is angry about revelations uncovered by The Times' about forced installation of prepayment meters by Centrica, noting that it has "exposed that some of the suppliers are not in control of what's happening in terms of the due dili- gence process and the contractors that they're using". However the "buck stops" with the energy compa- nies, which should be looking at the quality of their engagement with customers, Flint says: "How we heat our homes and keep our lights on are vital to life neces- sities. "That does entitle the government to expect a higher order of engagement and delivery of those services. That's understood by most of the people working in the sector: the question for them is how well they're doing that." The recent Whitehall shake-up, which has essentially recreated the department Flint used to shadow with a focus on energy security and net zero "makes sense" but is not sufficient. "There has to be joined-up thinking across govern- ment on these issues as well when it comes to fuel poverty," she says, noting that other departments will still have a key role to play, including health and work and pensions. One area where she particularly highlights the need for this kind of cross-departmental work is addressing the energy efficiency of private rented sector housing. The widely reported difficulties getting customers on prepayment meters to redeem discount vouchers has lessons for helping poorer households install energy efficiency upgrades, Flint says: "The further we go into this area, we're going to come across the harder to reach communities and that might require a different way of looking at this." And while rising fuel bills have swallowed up any cash benefits resulting from improvements in house- holds' energy efficiency this year, it is important not to lose sight of the latter. The number of people on low incomes still living in homes that are rated below EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) band D is "concerning", she says. "For those people living in poorly insulated homes, whatever sup- port we give them we don't want it wasted because it's going out of the fabric of their buildings. "We have to ramp up energy efficiency programmes for those people. "It's very easy for energy efficiency to get lost in some of the discussions and that would be short-sighted. To allow that to happen would be a failure." "Clearly, there are issues around protecting data. If you share data about someone's status in terms of benefits, not everyone's going to be happy with that." continued from previous page

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