Vulnerable customers urged to claim fuel payments

Energy charities are gearing up to help vulnerable customers claim payments to help them keep warm ahead of winter weather and ensure that payments do not go unclaimed.

The coalition of charities will throw the spotlight on the almost one in five households in fuel poverty this Friday (29 November), which they have designated Fuel Poverty Awareness Day to raise awareness of some of the issues faced by those living in cold homes and the solutions available.

Fuel Poverty Awareness Day is coordinated by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition (EFPC) member, National Energy Action (NEA) and concludes the Warm and Safe Homes Campaign.

NEA usually holds Fuel Poverty Awareness Day at the end of winter but has brought it forward to encourage householders to seek support at the start of the winter period. The End Fuel Poverty Coalition has called on all political parties to adopt four pledges to end the scourge of fuel poverty in England. Both Labour and the Lib Dens have promised huge energy efficiency programmes.

Among social tenants 13.8 per cent of households are fuel poor, while 7.7 per cent of owner occupiers are fuel poor. Some 82.1 per cent of all fuel-poor households are considered vulnerable, that is one containing children, the elderly, or someone with a long-term illness or disability.

The spotlight on fuel poverty comes as utility firms look to improve the way they community with vulnerable customers as we move into a digital age.

Overcoming the challenges of delivering excellence in digital services to priority service customers will be the topic of a new Utility Week webinar.

This webinar will help utility companies to harness digital technology to deliver a positive experience to priority groups. It will also present the findings from a data sharing pilot of customers on the Priority Services register in advance of the initiative being rolled out sector wide in 2020.

In this webinar experts will share their experiences of making digital work for all customers and is based on a new report from Digital customer experience agency Mando: Digital Simple For Everyone: Improving experiences for vulnerable customers.

The webinar on November will explore:

• The challenges or delivering digital challenges to vulnerable customers
• How personalisation can highlight support services
• How we can we design simpler experiences that are accessible to everyone.
• Sharing data on customers eligible for priority services – and learning from experience

The webinar will also feature presentations from Electricity North West on their pilot project to share PSR data with United Utilities.