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Customers This week Labour to push for amendment requiring water firms to introduce national affordability scheme Social tariff debate as Water Bill moves on The Water Bill has cleared its latest Parliamentary hurdle, as debate centres on Labour's bid to make social tariffs compulsory. The Bill passed its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday, with Labour confirming it would push for an amendment that requires all Parliament pass: Bill second reading a success water companies to introduce a national affordability scheme to help those struggling with their bills. Shadow environment secretary Maria Eagle said: "Despite the sensible measures that are contained in the Bill, this is a wasted opportunity to tackle the impact that rising water bills are having on stretched household budgets." Referring to environment secretary Owen Paterson's letter to the chief executives of water companies urging them to convert "unexpectedly high profits" into "tangible benefits for customers" earlier this month, Eagle said: "There was not even a threat of action if they take no notice – no threat of a tougher regulatory regime and no threat to impose an affordability scheme." Paterson argued that between 1999 and 2009 – between the first and last price reviews under the previous government – water bills rose in real terms by £65, from £324 to £389, which is an increase of more than 20 per cent on the average household bill. He also pointed out that the current price of the average household water bill is £388. The Bill will now be sent to a Public Bill Committee, which will scrutinise it line by line and is expected to report back by 17 December 2013. CM Energy Ofgem given powers over rogue brokers Ofgem has been granted new powers by the government to help protect business customers from being mis-sold energy by "rogue" brokers. Under the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations (BPMMR), the energy regulator has the powers to "clamp down" on brokers or other organisations that are selling energy services or products to businesses in a misleading way. If a broker is found to be misselling energy products or services, Ofgem is able to apply for a court injunction, forcing the broker or organisation to comply with marketing legislation. The new powers come as research commissioned by Ofgem found 32 per cent of microbusinesses had a negative view of energy brokers, and 31 per cent of all businesses did not consider that brokers had been upfront about the cost of their services. Philip Cullum, consumer partner at Ofgem, said: "Business consumers need to feel confident that they know – and get – what they're paying their broker for." Electricity Smart meters key to 24-hour switching Smart meters are the "key e nabler" for 24-hour switching in the energy sector, according to Baroness Verma. Speaking last week at the Smart Metering Forum, the parliamentary undersecretary for energy and climate change e choed comments made by energy secretary Ed Davey in his annual energy statement, that 24-hour switching is an "ambition" for the government. She said smart meters will "enhance the power and understanding" of energy customers and "make consumers more easily able to switch suppliers in order to see reductions on their bills". Baroness Verma added that for prepayment customers, topping up will be "as easy as topping up a mobile phone". Energy Ovo offers customers flexible direct debits Ovo Energy has launched a flexible direct debit payment system for its customers, who will also receive a discount on their bills for using it. The new technology used by the independent supplier allows customers to set their own monthly direct debit payments, and is eligible for the 5 per cent Ovo Reward discount that takes an average £60 off energy bills. Ovo has been able to halve its back-office costs for dealing with bad debt, customer service calls, processing refunds, and collecting negative balances, it said. I am the customer Joel Windels, Brandwatch We analysed the mentions on Twitter of the big six energy companies over the month from 4 October to 4 November to find out what kind of reaction the companies were getting from the public online. The numbers do not make good reading for utilities. Chatter related to the big six made up a staggering 152,561 mentions in total over a onemonth period. This number is an increase of 195 per cent since September (51,782) as conversa- "Popular energy hashtags included #greedybellends and #freezethatbill" tion swelled around the recent price rise announcements. While most of the online c onversation involved people factually reporting the price hikes, negative mentions outweighed positive mentions by more than 50 per cent (11,490 negative mentions over the month). Popular energy hashtags included #greedybellends and #freezethatbill, and of the six companies, Scottish Power accumulated the most negative conversation about its service (13 per cent), jointly followed by British Gas and Npower (8 per cent each). Eon was the most positively viewed operator, with only 652 negative mentions to its name. More generally, complaints from the public were (ranked in order): poor customer service; long telephone waits; bad communication; overcharged bills; and website issues. Londoners were the most likely to complain online, with Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow tweeters taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th place. Joel Windels, marketing manager, Brandwatch UTILITY WEEK | 29th November - 5th December 2013 | 25