Energy Reset: A view from the water sector

As part of Utility Week’s Energy Reset campaign, we present a series of perspectives on tackling the cost of living crisis. Louise Beardmore is customer services and people director at United Utilities, the water company covering the most economically challenged region in the UK. In our latest piece, Beardmore argues there is a strong case for collaboration across the utilities sector.  

Households and businesses up and down the country are all feeling the pinch like never before.  And here at United Utilities, this is an area we have been focussed on for many years.

The North West is a fantastic place to live and work, but it has its challenges. The region is the most economically challenged in the UK, with the highest levels of deprivation across the country before Covid, and the pandemic has only emphasised the social, health and economic challenges that the region faces.

But for many, the money going out is about to rise and as bills outstrip earnings and benefits, times are going to get tight for everyone. Some people who were previously managing, could soon find themselves being tipped into financial hardship.

As a company serving 3 million households we recognise we can’t be complacent to the challenge facing people right now, but as personal finances get tighter we feel we are in a strong position to respond with practical and meaningful help and support that will make a difference.

Support

One of the most important things we’ve learned about financial challenges is that once money is tight it affects every area of a household or business. It’s not about one particular bill becoming unaffordable, customers find it increasingly difficult to budget and this is where they need support.

It’s important that schemes and support are easily accessible, easy to qualify for and most important of all, companies need to share information with debt advice services, so they have information readily available on the support packages available.

We know that many customers turn to trusted third parties like Debt Advice charities and the Citizens Advice Bureau. Engaging with such agencies is as important as dealing with customers directly. Some of our most effective affordability schemes have been designed through collaboration with debt advisers.

Some tackle the psychological side effects of debt. For example, our payment matching scheme helps get customers back into the habit of making regular payments, whilst also making the goal of becoming debt free feel achievable.  For every pound they pay off their bill, we pay two more until the debt is cleared.

Our lowest bill guarantee scheme was based on feedback about the “fear factor” of switching to a water meter from a fixed charge. Many households in the North West would be better off on a water meter but customers worried it would cost them more, and then leave them stranded and unable to switch back. Instead of leaving it up to the customer to monitor whether they were saving before the trial period expired we do the comparison for them and we only charge the smaller amount.

We’ve found that the process of credit checks and eligibility assessments for reduced rate social tariffs is a real challenge for many customers.  It can be very time-consuming. Last year we started to trial an open banking app which streamlines the process and, with the customer’s permission, allows our call agents to check their financial details while they are on the phone and get a new payment agreement set up there and then.

Ultimately this means we can get a customer onto support immediately with no forms, or need to send us benefit statements.

Collaboration

Debt advice organisations and charities do fantastic work but their teams are time-pressured like everyone else and in many cases are volunteers.  They have great insight to share on how we can make budgeting easier for our customers. And in turn, we can make their job easier so they can help as many clients as possible. Collaboration is absolutely key.

There are some 600 debt advice professionals across the North West. In 2018 we held our first Affordability Summit, bringing together those who offer debt advice with representatives from the private and public sectors, including housing associations, councils and utility companies. It was an opportunity to share ideas, understand frustrations and ultimately find better ways of working together. This has become an annual event and in 2019 it resulted in the creation of the UK’s first Hardship Hub.

This is a portal, which creates a one-stop-shop to bring financial assistance schemes and information from across the public and private sector into one place.  This assists the money advice community to quickly and easily identify the right support for the people who come to them for help. That can be help with utility bills, food banks or housing.

At present the Hardship Hub is only focussed on North West customers and communities, but it became an invaluable way of providing help and support through Covid, and allowed us to reach customers together, getting help to those who needed it quickly.

Where next?

Currently United Utilities is supporting over 200,000 customers with affordability schemes and we are contributing over £70 million of shareholder funds to help customers who are struggling financially.

It’s at times like these big businesses need to step up and we need to do more collaboration across different sectors to bring together all those who are contributing towards business and household bills. Let’s not tackle water, gas and electric separately, when collectively there is a real opportunity to provide helpful and concise advice.

Water and energy are interlinked through the way we use water, the way our houses are designed, the appliances we use. So how can we make it easier for customers to use water more efficiently and therefore use less energy to heat it? Being energy efficient enables you to be water efficient.

Finally, there is a huge opportunity for collaboration on affordability support and social tariffs. There has been some great collaboration on data sharing for Priority Service customers.  The challenge now, is how can we replicate this into affordability and national social tariffs? After all, I go back to a previous point, if you’re struggling with your water bill you will be struggling with your energy bill too.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if we worked as utility companies, with national support tariffs, combined energy and water efficiency advice and a national hub that enables the brilliant money advice sector to help signpost and support all customers wherever they may live – financial stress knows no boundaries and support should not be a postcode lottery.

Recent reports, such as the Consumer Council for Water independent review of water affordability, provide many good ideas how we can collectively be doing more.

There’s much food for thought, but one thing we have learned is that working together works!