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Research by the Business Disability Forum shows that £42.3 million is lost by energy suppliers each month as customers leave due to poor disability awareness.
BDF said 5.7 percent of disabled customers – or 500,000 people – have switched supplier because of poor awareness, with 4.9 percent of parents or carers switching for the same reason.
BDF said this is only set to increase as the number of people aged 80 years or older will reach eight million by 2050, with almost half of those aged 65 or over having a disability.
It warned that suppliers need to start talking to disabled customers to gather know-how on how to incorporate their needs into future customer service platforms in order to retain customers.
BDF’s director of policy, services and communications, George Selvanera said: “Disability know-how is increasingly central to addressing the requirements of an ageing customer base. It means applying lessons from other service providers to ensure that empathy is built into digital design processes.”
“As a first action for any energy supplier, capturing the views of disabled and older customers about how they currently experience services and their suggestions they have for improvement.”
The research also shows that disabled customers are some of the most active switchers in the market with more than half reporting switching deals, either to another supplier or to a cheaper tariff at the same supplier in the last two years.
Selvanera said: “The market opportunity is there for energy suppliers to secure the loyalty of disabled and older customers and their families and friends and it starts by talking directly to these customers.”
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