Utilities launch new scheme to protect customers from scams

A number of key players in the utilities sector have launched a new scheme to help their customers to avoid falling victim to scams.

British Gas, SSE, Cadent, Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) and Yorkshire Water are among the founding members of Utilities Against Scams (UAS) initiative.

Participants have pledged to provide training to thousands of staff who interact daily with customers in their home, on the phone, or digitally. This will allow staff to more easily spot warning signs, provide help and report potential scams.

The scheme is backed by National Trading Standards which has today (27 November) released its annual consumer harm report which revealed that energy related fraud is a growing issue.

Specifically, the report warns, increasing awareness of green issues have given fraudsters new opportunities to mislead consumers.

Furthermore, there have been reports of some salespeople luring customers into purchasing unnecessary energy saving devices for their homes.

Scams relating to solar energy and insulation meanwhile are attractive to rogue traders, who use doorstep and cold calling tactics to target potential customers.

National Trading Standards added that it was working with energy regulator Ofgem over a “two to three-year” programme of work to tackle the growing issue.

The organisation told Utility Week that it was difficult to get an exact figure of the number of reported cases of utility-related scams as the bulk of investigations are carried out by local authorities, but added that insights from its regional intelligence analysts are reporting more issues around this type of fraud.

Jo Giles, customer safeguarding manager at Cadent, said: “This is about empowering people to take a stand against scams by identifying, preventing and reporting them.

“Scams are becoming more commonplace, more sophisticated and harder to spot. As utility companies, we meet and talk to customers on a daily basis.

“This puts us in an ideal position to support people who may be targeted, to spot tell-tale signs and act. Utilities Against Scams creates a clear and consistent approach in how we do this.”

An SSE Energy Services spokesperson said: “With scammers turning to increasingly more complex and cunning ways of getting consumers to part with their cash, it is only right that we equip our employees to be even more alert to spot the signs of a potential scam.”

An Anglian Water spokesperson said: “Unfortunately customer reports of scams and bogus callers who are preying on people in the most vulnerable circumstances are becoming more commonplace.

“We want all of our customers to feel safe in their own home which is why we’ve joined the UAS initiative so our staff can help our customers spot and report scams before they happen, and so they know what to expect from a genuine Anglian Water employee who may knock on their door.”

Louise Baxter, from the National Trading Standards Scams Team, said: “It’s fantastic that the utility sector – gas, electricity, water and communications companies – has come together to create this important new network and join our campaign. To stop scams, we need to identify and report them.

“Having a new ‘army’ of customer-facing employees trained in knowing the signs is going to make a big difference.”