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UTILITY WEEK | 4Th - 10Th AprIL 2014 | 27 Customers Market view A fainter consumer voice Roger Darlington says the end of the dream that was Consumer Focus leaves a weaker and less well resourced consumer voice. A t the time of the last Labour govern- ment, there was a grand project to pull together all the statutory con- sumer bodies – most representing consum- ers in a particular regulated sector – into one integrated consumer voice. Ofcom resisted the inclusion of its newly formed Consumer Panel, the Department of Transport kept Pas- senger Focus outside the scheme, and the possibility of including the Consumer Coun- cil for Water (CCWater) was eventually made the subject of a future statutory review. But the relevant legislation did merge Postwatch, Energywatch and the National Consumer Council into a new body which the Act called the New National Consumer Coun- cil but the organisation itself branded Con- sumer Focus. Funding for Consumer Focus came from three sources: from the big six energy companies for the energy work; from Royal Mail for the postal work; and from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (Bis) for the work on the general economy, which included a bit of communications work on issues such as switching and mobile. In the run-up to the 2010 general elec- tion, things looked pretty good for Consumer Focus. The Bis funding was reasonable given the economic circumstances and it was pro- posed that a post of consumer advocate be created and located in Consumer Focus. Then came the coalition government and the "bon- fire of the quangos" via the Public Bodies Act. So the review of the position of CCWater never took place, the idea of a consumer advocate was abandoned, and the govern- ment decided that Ofcom's Consumer Panel – by then called the Communications Con- sumer Panel – and all the work of Consumer Focus should be transferred to Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. Ofcom was originally willing to see the Panel go to Citizens Advice, but changed its mind and instead decided to retain the Com- munications Consumer Panel and the Advi- sory Committee for the Older and Disabled, but to merge them (a process which formally requires a statutory instrument (SI) under the Public Bodies Act, but the relevant SI has still not been passed). Meanwhile, the work of Consumer Focus outside energy and post was transferred to Citizens Advice a year ago, with much reduced funding from Bis. The remain- ing parts of Consumer Focus have been rebranded Consumer Futures and transferred to Citizens Advice at the end of last month. The last board meeting of Consumer Futures took place last week and there was a farewell dinner for past and present board members of Consumer Focus/Consumer Futures. So, where does this leave us? In my view, it leaves us with a consumer voice in the regu- lated sectors that is much less well resourced and much weaker than before this grand project began. It also leaves us with a very uneven representation of consumers in dif- ferent regulated sectors: there is a statutory, standalone consumer voice on communica- tions within the regulator; there are statutory, standalone consumer voices for transport and water outside the regulators; and there are consumer voices for energy and posts in a special unit of a non-statutory organisation. I must declare that I am far from a disin- terested observer of all this. I was the mem- ber for England on the Communications Consumer Panel for its first eight-and-a-half years; I was the Greater London Council member on Postwatch for its last three years; I was a member of the board of Consumer Focus for its first three years; and, for the past two years, I have worked with CCWater col- leagues in my current role as chair of the Cus- tomer Challenge Group at South East Water. I wish all my colleagues well in all the consumer organisations mentioned here. At this time of austerity more than ever, consum- ers need a strong, properly resourced voice across the different market sectors, especially where choice of service provider is difficult, limited or non-existent. One way or another, consumer bodies have to work more closely together because most of the time consumers do not see their lives through the prism of a particular industry sector and oen the most vulnerable face similar issues across sectors. Roger Darlington is a consumer affairs specialist and independent chair of South East Water's Customer Challenge Group EnErgY Scotland launches efficiency standard for social housing An energy efficiency standard for social housing has been launched by the Scottish housing minister. Margaret Burgess unveiled the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing, which is expected to save social housing tenants an average of £210 a year. Raising the existing energy efficiency ratings of the social housing stock in Scotland is predicted to save around £130 million in annual fuel costs. EnErgY Switching slump The number of consumers switching energy supplier is lower than it was ten years ago, according to collective switching organisation the Big Deal. There were an estimated 5.88 million switches in 2013 – 3.7 million fewer than at the peak in 2008 and nearly 1.4 million fewer than in 2003. Henry de Zoete, co-founder of the Big Deal, said: "Energy UK and the big six claim the market is working because more and more people are switching. The truth is the opposite." EnErgY Co-operative enjoys growth spurt in 2013 Co-operative Energy gained more than 70,000 new customers in 2013, according to the group's end-of-year results. The Midcounties Co-operative, which includes the energy supplier alongside food, funeral, pharmacy, travel and childcare busi- nesses, reported a 21 per cent increase in operating profit to £22 million. Co-operative Energy now serves more than 200,000 households. Briefs