Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | MAY 2023 | 11 Campaign There is a plethora of support available. From straightforward energy price subsidies to energy e ciency grants, there has never been more of a proliferation of government interventions. The public sector is forecast to contribute more than £50 billion to energy price subsidies between 2022 and 2024, in addition to home energy e ciency pro- grammes and social welfare payments like universal credit. This is augmented by multi- ple schemes from private sector companies, from payment plans to spread the cost of energy to giving away free electric blankets, and charities raising money speci• cally to help those they seek to protect a• ord to heat their homes. Putting aside the question of whether what is available to struggling families is su cient, what is certain is that we are a long way from being able to target relief and make sure that everyone who needs it is informed and can easily access the support that is most relevant to them. Energy suppliers are o€ en at the sharp end of dealing with vulnerable customers. The licence obligations for treatment of vul- nerable customers provide broad guidance but most go further, instead relying on social conscience, training and quality customer service to do the best they can to pre-empt, address, and direct support to customers showing signs of distress. But the support landscape is complex, for energy suppliers, government agencies, and third sector companies alike. Changing support schemes make it hard to keep track of, hard to direct, and hard for consumers to navigate to access the help that's available to them. The issue is emotive, complex and dif- • cult to solve, but what are the barriers to doing better? • Lack of data and research on the extent and nature of fuel poverty in households. • Lack of awareness and advice on the sup- port available to manage energy bills and improve household energy e ciency. • Structural inequalities such as income, access to quality housing and health and social issues. • High and volatile wholesale energy prices which are passed on to consumers. • Challenges in identifying victims and underlying issues due to cultural barri- ers, behavioural di• erence and stigma. • Complex policy responses involving many di• erent stakeholders and an array of fragmented support schemes. Until now we could have added, high up on this list, the lack of the right kind of tech- nology to access, interpret, and triangulate data in order to direct and provide shortcuts to the kind of cross-agency and cross-sector solutions that are available. But the technology does exist to do much better. Identifying the issue has been one challenge, with suppliers o€ en relying on self-identi• cation or the lagging indicator of customer debt to identify those in need. However, other data sources provide a window into the broader issue – health data, energy usage data, social security data, demographic data. The second issue has been ensuring that the full range of support and advice across public, private, and third sector is brought together in a single source of the truth. Both issues together made it impossible to direct, for example, the Energy Bill Support Scheme subsidy to those that need it most. But maturing technologies like AI-driven decision support are ripe to address both issues by triangulating the structured and unstructured data from mul- tiple sources that today is o€ en exchanged between organisations in an ad hoc and non-replicable way. In contrast to this messy reality, we have the technology at hand to deliver: • Data integration: creating a uni• ed, coherent view of the energy market, fuel poverty support options and household data. • Data analysis: including pattern recogni- tion and predictive insights to inform decision-making and better identify victims. • Improved communication and collabora- tion: powered by uni• ed data platforms and collaboration tools. These tools don't exist right now but are more than feasible. Technology has come of age in a way which, perhaps for the • rst time, has the opportunity to make a fundamental di• erence to the lives of the huge numbers in or at risk of fuel poverty. By leveraging state-of-the-art AI language models, we can start to arm energy advisers on how to move from an emotional conversation to a very informed conversation and provide the best possible recommendations. What might this mean in practice? It means the possibility exists for faster, more targeted interventions by government; faster and more equitable access to avail- able support and funding; and the tools to give personal, tailored and relevant advice, reducing one stressor in situations that are already placing consumers under high lev- els of stress. The rise of AI-powered decision-mak- ing, fuelled by rapid advances in technol- ogy and supported by organisations with a focus on societal bene• t, such as Open AI, has created a convergence of press- ing needs, growing aspirations for more e• ective and e cient solutions, and the availability of cutting-edge tools. This pre- sents a unique opportunity that we cannot a• ord to miss. The existing systems and approaches are no longer su cient, and we must seize this moment to resolve what is rapidly becoming a serious threat to our society. To see a full report on discussions with the Utility Week Taskforce around action on bills and comment from PA Consulting go to https://utilityweek.co.uk/challenges/ Despite signi cant government e ort, rates of household fuel poverty remain high, and the increased fuel poverty gap could trigger a much larger rate through 2023. Proportion of households in fuel poverty (%) Average fuel poverty gap (£) NGO estimate UK Gov estimate Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

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