Category Archives: Archive

Making Digital Communications Work for Everyone

On 25 February 2016, Ofcom published its initial conclusions following the review of digital communications. In brief:

BT must open up its network, so competitors can connect fibre to homes and offices.
Openreach must be reformed to better serve UK consumers and businesses.
Quality of service for all customers must improve, with automatic compensation where things go wrong.

Ofcom will work with the Government to deliver a new universal right to fast, affordable broadband for every household and business in the UK.

UKRN launches leaflet for vulnerable consumers seeking support services

ukrn The UK Regulators’ Network has today launched an advisory leaflet to help ensure vulnerable consumers get the help they need to access essential services.

Produced through a collaborative effort between Ofgem, Ofcom, Ofwat, the ORR and the CAA, the leaflet highlights a range of free support services offered by utility, telecommunications and public transport providers.

The UKRN website gives details of how to get braille, audio and large print versions of the leaflet.

Water 2020 consultation

running-tap Consumer groups should take a look at chapter 7 of Ofwat’s Water 2020 consultation – which focuses on customer engagement. This section sets out how Customer Challenge Groups should contribute to the PR19 price setting process. Submissions should be sent to Ofwat by 10 February 2016.

Ofgem proposals for prepay customers

Ofgem Ofgem’s consultation on proposals to improve outcomes for prepayment customers ends 25 February 2016.

The proposals are designed to:

help PPM customers to access more competitive tariffs
address the costs consumers can face, ensuring these do not fall disproportionately on those least able to afford them, and
ensure that PPM customers are treated fairly by their energy providers.

Priority Services for energy consumers

On 17 December 2015, Ofgem published its final proposals for the Priority Services Register, considered integral to its consumer vulnerability strategy. The aim is to ensure that existing services relating to safety, access and communication in the energy market meet the needs of consumers in vulnerable situations.

Priority Services Register Review – Final Proposals

The consultation closes on 18 February 2016.

New research on energy tariffs for vulnerable consumers

Sunset-energy-pic-edited Citizens Advice has published new research on energy tariff options for consumers in vulnerable situations which aims to provide researchers, policy makers and energy market stakeholders with a better understanding of the possible options to ensure that disengaged vulnerable consumers are not penalised by higher tariffs. The research was carried out by the Centre for Sustainable Energy. Read more here.

Previous analysis by Ofgem indicates that poorer consumers could be losing out more than other disadvantaged social groups by not switching energy supplier – the number of poorer ‘sticky’ customers (those who are inactive in the energy market) is 10% higher than average amongst these groups. Based on average savings, consumers on non-fixed tariffs could have saved between £158 and £234 a year (2012-2014) had they switched. So Citizens Advice commissioned this research to investigate options to ensure that vulnerable sticky consumers have access to affordable energy.

Dr Toby Bridgeman, researcher at CSE, led the study. He said: “The research shows that there are several straightforward options that could be introduced to significantly reduce the fuel bills of millions of vulnerable consumers who are currently disadvantaged by the energy market, paying over the odds for their fuel. It would be fantastic if the investigation into the energy market being conducted by the Competition and Markets Authority were to recognise and support some of the recommendations in this report.”

Inclusive service

Citizens Advice have carried out a benchmarking study into British Standard for inclusive service provision (BS 18477). Find the full report, titled Treating consumers fairly, here.

Benchmark study

To accelerate the rate of uptake of the Standard and support companies’ endeavours to become more inclusive, Citizens Advice (Consumer Futures) commissioned independent research consultancy, Opinium Research LLP to conduct a benchmarking study of three organisations that are directly or closely linked to Citizens Advice and provide free help concerning advice and redress for energy consumers:

the Citizens Advice consumer service (the consumer service)
the Ombudsman Service: Energy
the Extra Help Unit.

All three organisations operate towards the end of a consumer journey – they deal with the consequences of decisions (or indecisions) of other organisations or companies.

Objectives

We believe that all companies’ key aims – particularly those companies providing essential goods and services – should include the provision of fair and flexible services to their consumers. We consider that the time has arrived for a transparent cultural shift whereby organisations:

reframe their perspective
change the way they think about consumers and their business
build ‘long-term relationships’ with consumers; ‘earning their trust and then their business’, to become ‘social leaders’.

A more inclusive approach would benefit all consumers. It could particularly benefit those experiencing vulnerability, as well as improving organisations’ own brand, reputation and employee confidence and satisfaction. In turn, this would benefit society and the wider economy.

Conclusions

A demonstrable organisation-wide commitment to providing services that are fair and accessible to all underpinned all the examples of good practice. The experiences of these organisations suggest that developing a broad, flexible understanding of vulnerability and its impact on the consumer is the critical first step in becoming a fair, inclusive and accessible organisation.

But before an organisation can consider how it should respond to vulnerability, it must first ensure its staff can identify it. For the three participating organisations, training played a crucial role in ensuring that staff:

can identify or elicit evidence of vulnerability and
possess the necessary “soft” skills for dealing with consumers in such circumstances.

Age UK report on pensioner poverty

More than a million pensioners are still living in poverty, partly due to their failure to claim benefits, the charity Age UK has claimed. In a new report, it said 1.6m pensioners in the UK are living below the poverty line, and are “floundering” on low incomes.

It conceded that the numbers living in poverty had fallen since 2000, but said progress had now stalled.

The report, called How We Can End Pensioner Poverty, said that many pensioners “had been walking a tightrope in recent years,” as food and utility bills have risen.

But the biggest cause of poverty was that people are missing out on £5.5bn worth of public support.

Findings

The report found that:

1.6m pensioners are missing out on Pension Credit, worth £33 a week
2.2m pensioners are missing out on Council Tax Benefit, worth an average £728 a year
390,000 pensioners could have claimed Housing Benefit, worth £48 a week

Age UK said that many people do not know that they are entitled to benefits; others are too proud or embarrassed to claim.

Ofgem consults on Priority Services

A gas ring burns on a ring at a home in west London, Tuesday, Au Ofgem is reviewing its work on priority services.

Consultation closes 22nd September 2014. Read more here.

Ofgem says:

Gas and electricity are essential services. Providing extra services to people who need them to access the market and stay safe remain critically important. This consultation seeks views on proposals that require suppliers, electricity distribution network operators and gas distribution networks to:

•provide additional non-financial services to energy consumers who are more likely than a typical consumer to experience problems with communication, safety and supply;

•take reasonable steps to identify people who would benefit from these services;

•share consumer information with each other and other utility companies, using vulnerability indicators agreed between them;

•raise awareness of services, including developing a single cross-industry brand; and

•conduct annual independent audits of their performance and publish findings yearly

ESAN

The Essential Services Access Network