This facilitated discussion, chaired by Jess Cook, Policy Manager at NEA, took place on 24th May 2022. The speakers were Matt Copeland, National Energy Action; Zoe McLeod, Sustainability First; Carl Packman, Fair By Design; Daniella Weduwer, Energy UK and Andy White, Consumer Council for Water.
Minutes from the discussion are available here.
Dr Elizabeth Blakelock, ESAN Trustee, hosted a facilitated conversation on innovation and vulnerable consumers on Monday, 14 June 2021 from 12.10 to 12.50 pm. Notes from all special events are published here
For notes from this webinar and all of the ESAN special events held so far go to http://esan.org.uk/esan-events/
On Monday, 22 February 2021 ESAN hosted the first of a series of special webinars. Carl Packman from Fair by Design, presented the findings of a recent PFRC report looking at recent changes in relation to the poverty premium (the extra costs of being on a low income) to understand how the costs and types of poverty premium have changed in the last few years. 
ESAN has today published its latest Annual Report and Accounts. ESAN ARA 2019-20. For ESAN, this year has seen some firsts. Some were negative. In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic we decided to cancel our April 2020 physical meeting for the first time ever. Some were more positive: we held our first virtual meeting in July 2020 which had an excellent attendance and produced some very stimulating discussions. In light of this meeting, and the feedback received, we are thinking about how to do future meetings virtually and also what scope there is for additional digital ESAN activity.
The Annual General Meeting of the Essential Services Access Network will be held online on Wednesday 7 October 2020 at 1.15 pm. The AGM will be followed by a members network meeting, when the PSA will update members on the review of their Code of Practice.
As we start to think about how we respond to the
longer-term financial impacts of Covid-19, and linked
to that how we can best ensure that essential services
such as water, telecoms and energy are affordable for
citizens in the future, Sustainability First challenges us not
to fall into the trap of ‘group think’ and ‘collective failure of imagination’ when it comes to exploring the potential scenarios, options
and the solutions. 
National poverty charity, Turn2Us has launched a Coronavirus appeal in association with the Telegraph. Funds raised through the appeal will provide crisis grants to help people who are unable to work and who need money to pay bills or make essential purchases; as well as helping expand their online and helpline services for the increasing number of people in need of them. Turn2Us has seen
an unprecedented surge in demand for their services since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic.
A new programme of research, led by Fair By Design and the Money Advice Trust, explores the issue of inclusive design in credit, insurance, energy and other essential services markets. The Inclusive Design in Essential Services project will publish two reports in 2020 on how regulators and businesses can adopt inclusive design strategies in their work. 
UKRN, with the FCA, Ofcom, Ofgem, Ofwat and CCWater, have worked together to develop a set of performance scorecards to measure the customer experience across key sectors. You can now access the scorecards for financial services, communications, energy, and water in one place – with consumer metrics covering service quality, price differentials and satisfaction levels.