Transcript Slide 1

Social Obligations programme
Commitment to Tackling Fuel Poverty
East Midlands CAN
Thursday 4th September
Richard Murrell
Social Obligations Officer
1
WHO WE ARE
Lincoln
Nottingham
Boston
Stoke-onTrent
Shrewsbury
Tipton
Birmingham
EAST MIDLANDS
Coventry
Control Room &
Contact Centre
WEST MIDLANDS
East
Wales
Milton Keynes
West
Wales SOUTH WALES
Gloucester
Swansea
Cardiff
Bristol
Control Room &
Contact Centre
Mendip
Barnstaple
Somerset
SOUTH WEST
Torquay & Exeter
Bodmin
Plymouth
Redruth
2
WHAT WE DO
Restore power quickly
when problems occur
Connect new
customers
Maintain & reinforce
the network
 7.8m customers (26% of UK)
 Over 1 million customer calls a year
 Do not buy or sell electricity or gas - we are regulated by Ofgem who set our
revenues
3
Vulnerability – WPD’s established services

Maintain a Priority Service Register

Prepare customers for power cuts
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–
–
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Direct dial numbers sent to the most dependent
Information/advice sent to registered customers and agencies
Useful items in ‘crisis packs’ (e.g. hand warmers, torches,
phones)
Information/advice at community events and published online
Assist customers during a power cut
–
–
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Partnerships with British Red Cross and RVS to provide hot
food/drinks, advice and emotional support
Provide bespoke notice and assistance for planned power cuts
Contact oxygen concentrator providers who can ensure
customers have sufficient breathing apparatus
4
WPD’S Priority Service Register

We have a very reliable network, but power cuts happen every day – so our core
concern is the most vulnerable

We categorise the 21 prescribed “Special Needs” criteria as follows:
SN01: Critical
SN02: Medical
SN03:
medical dependency
dependency
Communication needs
02 Heart/Lung Machine
03 Kidney Dialysis
01 Nebuliser
04 Oxygen Concentrator
05 Ventilator
06 Apnoea Monitor
07 Other medical
dependency on electricity
08 Blind
09 Partially sighted
10 Deaf
11 Hearing impaired
SN04: Other
12 Stair lift
13 Bath Hoist
14 Elderly (60+)
15 Disabled
16 Speech
difficulties
17 Foreign language
18 Learning difficulties
19 Restricted movement
20 Dementia
21 Other

Over 950,000 currently on WPD’s PSR. 92,381 are SN01 or SN02

Customers can join the register via:
– Their supplier
– WPD direct

Increasing focus on people in vulnerable circumstances (including temporary factors), not just the
individual per se
5
Context - The regulatory landscape

DNOs operate in price controls. RIIO-ED1 = 2015-2023

Ofgem wants DNOs to play a fuller role in addressing consumer vulnerability:
– Improve the information we hold on customers and the assistance we
provide to Priority Service Register (PSR) customers
– Engage a wide range of agencies to ensure customers can access available
support
– Identify opportunities to enable energy solutions for vulnerable households
to reduce demands on the network
– Identify off-gas grid fuel poor customers
– Embed our strategy for addressing consumer vulnerability in our systems,
processes and how we manage customer interactions
RIIO-ED1: Revenue = Incentives + Innovations + Outputs – Electricity Distribution 1
WPD’s approach

We have worked extensively with stakeholders to build our plans

Being fast-tracked has allowed us to get on with our delivery well ahead of 2015

Our social obligations programme is already well-underway despite funding not
being in place until 2015 (start of RIIO-ED1)

We have:
– A comprehensive strategy and action plan agreed
– 17 Business Plan commitments for Social Obligations
– 14 pilot initiatives underway and delivering results
– Undergone a dry-run assessment of WPD’s programme

The programme will be centrally co-ordinated but locally delivered – fully
embedded in our operations
WPD’s social obligations strategy

It will achieve 4 key objectives:
1. Broaden our understanding of customer vulnerability
2. Improve the accuracy of our records with respect to vulnerable customers
3. Improve the services provided to vulnerable customers during power cuts
4. Address fuel poverty by providing referrals to partners that can assist with
energy affordability matters
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Crucial to the success of this will be building on existing partnership working
WPD’s RIIO-ED1 Business Plan outputs:

Our Business Plan contains 17 social obligations commitments, under the four strategic
objectives:
Improving our understanding of
customer vulnerability
Improve the data held on the
Priority Services Register
Work with expert partners to improve
1 understanding of the needs of vulnerable
customers
Proactively contact vulnerable customers at
3 least once every two years to check the details
on the PSR
2 Train staff to recognise signs of vulnerability
Improve the quality of PSR data by working
4 with other agencies and sharing information
Co-ordinate meetings with suppliers to agree
5 criteria for vulnerability
WPD’s RIIO-ED1 Business Plan outputs:
Address fuel poverty by supporting
customers to access key information
Improve the services provided for
vulnerable customers
6
Raise awareness of the PSR
12
Build a database of regional agencies we can
refer customers to for assistance
7
Make 10,000 crisis packs available
13
Work with partners to develop links to/from our
website
8
Contact all medically dependent
customers every 3hours during power cuts
14
Develop joint information, awareness campaigns
and co-ordinated assistance with partners
9
Continue to provide practical support via
the RVS and British Red Cross
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Engage Parish Councils to assist with their
Emergency Resilience planning
10
Seek feedback from vulnerable customers
to improve services
16 Provide bespoke training to WPD front line staff
17 Use data analysis to help identify localities
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Develop mechanisms for sharing
information with local resilience forums
Our social obligations programme 2013/14
Objective:
Improve our
understanding of
vulnerability
BSI standard on
inclusive service
provision
- Externally audited
Annual
vulnerable
customer research
Objective:
Improve the data held on
the Priority Service
Register
WPD PSR Contact
Centre team
established
- Data cleanse,
resilience advice &
fuel poverty referrals
Objective:
Improve services provided
for vulnerable customers
(in relation to power cuts)
Objective:
Address fuel poverty by
supporting customers to
access key information
Extended Red Cross &
RVS partnerships
- incl. new Crisis Packs
NEST fuel poverty
referral partnership
- Wales
Citizens Advice Bureau referral partnership
- Coventry & Leicester
National Energy Action - Community outreach - EAST MIDLANDS
National Energy Action - Community outreach project - WEST MIDLANDS
Energy Saving Trust - Community outreach project - SOUTH WALES
Energy Saving Trust - Community outreach project - SOUTH WEST
Changes to
industry dataflow
arrangements
Local Resilience Forum
& Parish Council
emergency planning
advice
Innovation interventions – e.g. Power Outage Detection devices
Worst served customers network improvement schemes
 WPD led  Partnership delivered
Getting on with it – An example from our
programme so far
Project 1: Priority Service Register Team established
 Team of 10 call handlers permanently outbound calling
PSR customers to update their records and give advice
 40,000 customers contacted since December 2013
 57% of records updated
Every customer given the option to be referred onwards to Citizens Advice for support regarding
affordability / tariffs / energy efficiency
Project 2: Citizens Advice referral partnership
 Handled 276 direct referrals in 6 months
 Interventions including tariff switches, ECO scheme
applications, pension credit claims and energy efficiency grants
 Monthly savings of £2,740 for those supported (c.£33k per year)
 Assisted clients with overall levels of debt over £120,000
How the CAB referral process works

Initial pilot project. We identify customers for referral through our:
– Data cleansing of the PSR
– Contact centre day-to-day interactions
– Pro-active direct contact with clients in fuel poor areas
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Direct referral process in place with CAB to deliver initial advice
by telephone, followed by a casework service including:
– Benefits check and budgeting advice
– Debt and fuel tariff advice
– Fuel usage reduction steps
– ECO schemes that might support a household to obtain a
new boiler or wall/loft insulation
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Also promote the PSR via CAB’s existing services
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Detailed monthly reports are used to measure the benefits
Delivering clear, measurable benefits
Energy Self Help and information sent out to clients
Debt Casework
Happy with current supplier/tariffs/energy deal and no help required
Unavailable (Internal DNA)
Referrals Out
Debt Self Help
79%
14%
3.90%
1.50%
1.20%
0.38%
£115 saved per
week
£75 saved per
month
£85 saved per
year
£61 better off per
year
New stairlift
82 year old with no
debts, supported
in claiming
Pension Credit.
Couple with a
disabled child, had
mortgage arrears,
eviction notice &
£50,000 of
unsecured debt.
Client was
confused by
energy tariffs &
had no access to
a computer.
73 years old,
lives alone in 2
bedroom house.
Fixed 1 year tariff
which ended.
Elderly, lives
alone with severe
arthritis.
Struggles to climb
stairs & literally
has to crawl up.
Supported to gain
suspension of
eviction warrant,
established regular
token payments to
non-priority
creditors & a grant
for utility arrears
CAB helped her
to compare tariffs
on switching
website &
handled switch
on her behalf to
best available
deal
Confused by
supplier letter
stating she could
be changed to
new energy plan,
but must elect to.
Therefore moved
to standard tariff
Also referred
to ECO scheme for
a replacement for
current grade G
rated boiler, saving
£310 a year on
energy costs
CAB gained a
GP referral to an
occupational
therapist &
helped apply for
a disabled
facilities grant
14
Community outreach projects
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Teamed up with expert partners, Energy Saving Trust and National Energy Action
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Identify, train and support local volunteers to become community ‘energy champions’
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Engage organisations such as Age UK, Care & Repair, Citizens Advice, Councils, housing
associations, NHS trusts and elderly forums
Objectives
To ensure fuel poor households are
aware of:
 Support they can receive from WPD
during power cuts
 How to join the PSR
 How to better manage their energy
use
 Information and support to reduce
their risk of suffering in fuel poverty
Approach
Identification
 Areas of highest fuel poverty
 Appropriate community support networks
Training
 To help householders make meaningful
changes
Support
 Ongoing mentoring and development of
volunteering action plans
 Advice booklets, leaflets, flyers and City &
Guilds training courses.
Community outreach projects - outcomes

Combination of “one to one” and “one to many” outreach approaches
Areas
Solihull (West Mids)
Nottingham (East Mids)
Cardiff (Wales)
TBC (South West)
Status
Complete
October 2013 – April 2014
Ongoing
Start up January
Delivery commenced May
Organisations engaged
50
400
Community champions
trained
32
143
554 householders
5,248 customers to date
Customer engaged
Next steps

Focus on projects that achieve measurable outcomes and benefits
– How many people took positive action as a result
– What actions were taken

Greater focus on providing practical assistance, not just advice

Continued use of pilot projects
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Expansion of successful pilots into business as usual as soon as possible
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Greater involvement in existing local authority/community schemes.