Utility Week

10 | MAY 2023 | UTILITY WEEK Campaign Analysis Act now to support customers next winter Government support on bills over the winter helped mitigate the worst impacts of the cost of living crisis but it is essential that work starts now to prepare for the pressures of next winter. This is why Utility Week is launching a new campaign to call for action on bills. Editor James Wallin sets out the aims of the campaign, while PA Consulting's Amy Marshall refl ects on the challenges identifying where support should be targeted in an uncertain landscape. W inter 2022/23 may have been one of the toughest in recent memory for household nances but the real concern is that we have yet to see the worst e ects of the cost of living crisis. Debt levels may not have plumbed the depths many utilities once feared, and fall- ing wholesale power prices are starting to feed through to customers, but the stark real- ity is that utility bills will remain una ord- able for millions without further action. Government support on energy bills, including the temporary freeze in the Energy Price Guarantee, has played a crucial role in protecting customers from the worst impacts of the cost of living crisis. However, as this unwinds, it is crucial that a clear plan is in place to provide continued support in the short term and a targeted package of meas- ures to help the most vulnerable customers over the longer term. This is why throughout spring 2023 and beyond, a corner of Utility Week will remain in winter. Our Action on Bills campaign will keep a constant focus on the need to prepare for winter now, not as the nights begin to draw in. Over the coming months we will delve into the various ways in which utilities can o er support to the customers who need it most and the role for policymakers and regulators in enabling this. In collaboration with indus- try, the specially convened Utility Week Task- force and our strategic partner PA Consulting, we will draw up a manifesto for action on bills to be presented to government. Among the points we will be lobbying for are: • A clear plan for targeted support on energy bills for vulnerable customers to be put out to consultation before the sum- mer recess with a target of putting this into action by April 2024. • A revised Energy Bills Support Scheme to be brought in for next winter while a more targeted approach is being designed. • Defra to support social tari s in the water sector through a clear funding commit- ment and a de nitive stance on whether there should be a single social tari . Alongside these lobbying e orts, we will run a series of deep dives into the various options for targeted support, including the evolution of the social tari in water and what the energy sector can learn from water on this subject. Other topics to be explored as part of the Action on Bills campaign will include: • The role of the bene ts system in bills support, including whether a bespoke utilities bene t is feasible. • The danger of customers falling between the cracks – how the evolution of bill sup- port must not leave cohorts of customers behind, for example those on Economy 7 tari s. • The future of bills support in the non- domestic sector. • The role of both water and energy e" - ciency in bringing bills down long term. • How progress can be accelerated on the sharing of data on vulnerable people. Comment Data rich, fuel poor PA Consulting's Amy Marshall looks at how technology can be used to move the dial on fuel poverty at the time we need it most. I n the throes of the current cost of living crisis, we are start- ing to see a reversal in the progress made over the last decade to close the fuel poverty gap (see chart). The numbers are stark. Government forecasts have 4 million UK homes currently in fuel poverty; charities estimate the number as closer to 8 million, with up to 19 million households at risk of tipping into that cat- egory – a huge portion of the population. Although wholesale market prices have reduced from the astronomical peaks of last autumn, which will bring welcome relief to homes and businesses alike, it coincides with bill support falling away as well as ongoing instability, and high in› a- tion in the wider economy. The outlook remains challenging for many households – ordinarily fuel poverty is a symptom of wider poverty and economic stress, and it doesn't exist in isolation – but given the prominence of fuel price rises in pushing households into poverty, new thinking is required speci cally on this theme to address those most in need of support with their energy bills. Fuel poverty, and dealing appropriately with vulnerable customers, is an endemic issue in the sector. Identi cation and pre-emption of the issue is impossible at worst and inconsistent at best due to a variety of issues, including that the data sources most readily available and used in the sector are imperfect and disparate. The Priority Services Register (PSR) as the de facto industry record of vulnerable customers simply isn't enough – it is static, based on de nitions that do not capture all elements of vulnerability, and relies on self-identi cation by customers.

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