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It's high time energy suppliers started reaching out to housing associations and other 'trusted partners' on the smart meter rollout, Peabody's Graeme Maughan tells Janet Wood

“Smart meters are essential to help combat fuel poverty,” says Graeme Maughan, sustainability manager at Peabody. That enthusiastic response to plans to roll out smart meters to every domestic customer by 2020 should be good news for energy companies, who will rely on housing associations like Peabody, other trusted organisations, and local authorities, to support the rollout.

As with many other housing associations, Peabody’s 55,000 tenants in almost 21,000 properties have a mix of relationships with their energy suppliers. Some have direct accounts, some pay via prepayment meters (which many prefer because it helps them budget) and some pay through Peabody service charges.

“Many of our residents are vulnerable to fuel poverty and we are already concerned about the effect of changes to social support. We are putting more money aside for bad debt,” says Maughan. Anything that can give residents more control over their energy use he sees as a benefit, and so he and Peabody “fully support” smart meters.

Despite his, and Peabody’s, enthusiasm for smart meters, Maughan has concerns. Some are to do with the meters themselves. “We were very disturbed to hear that the meters may have indicative prices. They need to show accurate tariff charges so customers can properly manage their budgets,” Maughan says, pointing out that a £20 standing charge not represented on the meter charge may represent a large part of a week’s shopping budget for some tenants.

However, the main issue is the lack of engagement with his organisation, and others like it, although the mass rollout is only two years away. Peabody is already active in the energy efficiency space. It is implementing plans for a home energy advice service (HEAS) for its residents that aims to change behaviours. Tenants will be trained to provide the advice, which will eventually extend to support other sustainable behaviours such as water saving and recycling. In parallel, Peabody is investing in its properties to add insulation, upgrade boilers, and otherwise improve their efficiency.

Maughan thinks utilities are underestimating how much education is required. The HEAS service asks first whether residents would be interested in an advice visit, and once they do visit, their advice is very basic. “People don’t know how to use their boiler or adjust their radiators, and they are nervous about doing it,” Maughan says. Yet utilities hope the same people will accept smart meters and use them effectively.

On top of that, there are practical issues. Maughan says: “This is a large-scale engineering programme. Our asset management team needs to know who is coming in and when. We need health and safety statements from each utility.” Peabody has its own asset management programme, he points out, and the smart meter installation may need to co-ordinate with that.

“We need to see all the utilities’ plans so we know where we fit in. We know our tenants well, but we need a common message and we need to decide how to get the message across. We need to plan information campaigns so they fit with other corporate priorities. And we need a strategy for the whole programme.” The organisation can manage programme delays, Maughan says, but at the least, “we’d like a window – saying that East London will be between these dates”.

Because Peabody has a good relationship with its tenants, “we can engage with providers. We can run education programmes”. Maughan points out that the possibility for rumour and inconsistency in a rollout taking several years is high, especially if different utilities are doing their installation at different times. If one utility changes meters and engages with most of the customers in one block, but some have to wait another year, Peabody needs to be able to provide information alongside the utilities. “Residents talk to each other. Peabody will have to manage information requests and we don’t want to be defensive or on the back foot. Consistent messaging is vital across the years,” he says.

To make the most of the rollout: “We need information now about how utilities will partner with housing associations, local authorities and charities before they go into the property. They need to take the right approach. When they are on-site it is an engineering and installation job, but they also need to give instruction to people who may be elderly or otherwise need more help.”

That is a different skill-set than the installation, he says, requiring specific approaches for customers with different needs and probably follow-up visits or advice. “Feedback from early customers is that they felt overloaded with information – although it was clearly all necessary. They need follow-up help,” Maughan says.

With this in mind, what does he need from the Central Delivery Body? “We need an overarching stakeholder engagement strategy that says exactly who, why and when engagement will be made. And we need to know how they will ensure messages are consistent between companies and over time during the rollout.” He sums it up: “Less talk, more planning.”

Does Maughan have any examples of good industry practice? He cites Southern Water’s meter rollout.

The company knew the change may cause anxiety so it “put the customer first”, he says. “They started working with [environmental charity] Groundwork to provide a Green Doctor service, and worked area by area. They provided education and advice – some of it including energy efficiency – and since they focused on vulnerable customers they also made referrals to ensure the customers were receiving all their benefits. That made the new meter installation a positive experience, and we want to see that with smart meters,” he says.

Janet Wood is a freelance journalist

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 19th July 2013.

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