Utility Week

Customers 28 | 12TH - 18TH JANUARY 2018 | UTILITY WEEK This week Q3 gas switches up 58% year on year The 1.1 million gas transfers last year was the highest quarterly number since 2008 The volume of gas customers switching suppliers increased by more than half in the third quarter of last year, according to government figures. The quarterly energy supply transfer statistics, published on the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) website in the run-up to Christmas, show there were an estimated 1.1 million transfer switches of gas accounts in the three months ending September 2017. This represented a 58 per cent increase on the figure of 702,000 recorded in the same quarter of 2016. There was a 33 per cent uptick in customers switch- ing electricity suppliers over the same period. According to BEIS, an estimated 1,284,000 electricity customers switched in the third quarter of 2017, compared with 963,000 in the three months ending September 2016. The figure of 1.1 million gas transfers was the highest quarterly figure recorded since the third quarter of 2008. The switching of electricity customers in the three months ending September 2017 was the highest recorded for the third quarter since 2009. It was also the second highest switching figure for any quarter since 2013. The figures show that 4.6 per cent and 4.8 per cent of all electricity and gas customers respectively switched in the third quarter of 2017. Claire Osborne, energy expert at comparison website uSwitch.com said: "As more and more households understand the benefits of switching and saving, it's no surprise that we are now hitting these peaks." DB ENERGY 'Market conditions' close Brighter World "Buy-to-give" ethical sup- plier Brighter World Energy has closed, saying its busi- ness model was unsustainable because of market conditions. Its customers have been taken on by Robin Hood Energy, the council-owned supplier that provided its white label tariffs. On its website, Brighter World Energy co-founder and chief executive Cheryl Latham said: "We have taken the tough, but responsible, decision to close at this time, because we no longer believe that market conditions, or our underlying operation, make for a sustainable business model in the long term." Latham assured customers their supplies will not be inter- rupted and will continue to be provided on the same terms. Any customer wishing to leave Robin Hood Energy will be able to do so without incurring exit fees. Brighter World Energy was launched in October 2016 and promised to install a solar- powered micro-grid in an African village for every 2,000 customers it signed up. WATER Aquaflow awarded retail market licence Aquaflow Utilities has been granted a water supply and sewerage licence by Ofwat to operate in the non-domestic water retail market. This means there are now 25 retailers in the market – the largest of its kind in the world. In its licence application last May, Aquaflow said it is "committed to offering eligible businesses in England and Wales exceptional levels of customer service, a highly com- petitive pricing strategy and a technology and efficiency-driven approach to reducing their water consumption". ENERGY Bills rise by 14 per cent in a year Average household energy bills have risen by one-seventh in the past year, according to new data from comparethemarket.com. Figures collated by the comparison website show the average energy bill rose by more than £240 to £1,625 in 2017, an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year. This means the average household is paying 17 per cent more than the £1,383 it was in 2015 for energy. The increase was greatest in Wales, where energy bills rose by £458. Together with a 13 per cent increase in motor and home insurance premiums, the aver- age UK consumer was £286 out of pocket over the course of 2017, the figures showed. Cooking on gas: switching up by more than half I am the customer Nicola Eaton Sawford "To be the best water com- pany, think like a customer" Forget you are a water company and accept in your heart that only nine or ten out of ten means good. A company that is focused on customer experience is not focused on what it is or what it does. It thinks purely in terms of the experience customers have. I hear much about the need to "think like a retailer", and too oen that is taken to mean "think about yourself as if you were a retailer". It actually means "think like a customer" quent purchases with a single mouse-click? Forget you are a water company. Think like a customer. Raise your performance bar and imitate the best in class. Inno- vate and anticipate and you will surely become the best water company. Nicola Eaton Sawford, managing director, Customer Whisperers Utility Week's Water Customer Conference takes place in Birmingham on 17 January because that is what great retail- ers do; and the really smart ones innovate and anticipate. It takes time to teach whole organisations to truly think like a customer, but the benefits are staggering. Amazon's 1-Click buying is website customer experience genius that was dismissed as "inconsequential" when it launched – but it elegantly addresses a problem you're unlikely to unearth in CSAT and NPS feedback. What could it mean for a water company that the Amazon 1-Click patent expired in Septem- ber, meaning it no longer holds exclusive rights to store payment information and execute subse-

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