The UK energy supply industry recognises that access to affordable heat, light and power is especially important to vulnerable customers, particularly older people, those with disabilities or certain medical conditions and people who are housebound.

Over a number of years the industry has developed a range of tailored services for customers that have special circumstances and need a little extra help. These include people who have disabilities, those on low incomes and customers who speak no, or little, English.

The provisions to help customers with special needs were agreed between UK energy suppliers and the regulator, Ofgem, during a Supply Licence Review in 2007, resulting in common standards across the industry.

Suppliers must provide special services for the physically vulnerable, including a password scheme and a free meter moving service, as well as free gas safety checks for eligible customers.

In 2008, fluctuating prices created challenges for energy suppliers and their customers. The rise in the wholesale prices of gas and electricity, combined with the credit crunch, tipped more families into fuel poverty.

Fuel Poverty occurs when a household has to spend 10% or more of its income on energy. It occurs as a result of:

• The condition and thermal efficiency of the dwelling
• The disposable income of the householder
• The cost of fuel
• Or a combination of all three

Tackling fuel poverty effectively needs a combined and sustained effort from the Government – in relation to enabling policies and the adequacy and take up rates of benefits; housing providers, who have a responsibility to maintain the housing stock, and energy suppliers. It is recognised that a holistic approach works best – including energy efficiency, free or subsidised heating, advice and income maximisation, with society’s most vulnerable people being targeted as a priority.

This will be achieved through suppliers participating in the Government’s Home Energy Saving Programme which was announced on 11 September 2008. The package is made up of many elements including suppliers investing extra money in the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) energy efficiency programme and through the Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) – a proposed £350 million programme that is jointly funded by UK energy suppliers and generators.

CESP will be delivered on a house-by-house, street-by-street basis and in addition to energy efficiency advice and normal energy efficiency measures such as cavity wall and loft insulation and low energy lighting delivered via CERT, it will include central heating, replacement heating systems, solid wall insulation and other measures that deliver significant CO2 and fuel savings which work to form a whole house approach.

In the 2008 Budget the Chancellor also announced an increase in suppliers’ collective expenditure on their voluntary social programmes to at least £150 million a year by 2011. This expenditure can be directed at social tariffs, rebates or trust funds which provide direct assistance to customers in, and vulnerable to, fuel poverty.

Over and above the statutory requirements placed upon it, the industry continues to play its part in addressing fuel poverty through measures such as the roll out of smart metering technology, targeting energy efficiency spend and through their wider pricing policies and debt management / customer services practices.

By working with Government, housing authorities and the caring agencies, suppliers can target help at the UK’s most vulnerable and needy customers and begin a progressive reduction in the number of UK households that endure the misery of fuel poverty.

Willie MacDiarmid, Impact Leader