Energy Consumers Network
Meeting Five
Date: Thursday 19 September
Time: 13.00 – 16.00
Location: Ofgem office, Glasgow and online
Attendees:
Chair - Lewis Shand Smith
Advice Direct Scotland - Pamela Stewart
Changeworks - Morven Masterton
Citizens Advice Scotland - Matthew Lee
Consumer Scotland - Grace Remmington, Michael O'Brien
Energy Saving Trust - Sophia Bates
Trust Alliance Group/Energy Ombudsman - Craig Wilson
The Wise Group - Amanda Currie
Individual Member - Dan van der Horst
Secretariat, Consumer Scotland - Andrew Faulk
Observer
Ofgem - Adam Cochrane-Williams
Apologies
Age Scotland - Adam Stachura
Energy Action Scotland - Frazer Scott
Fuel Bank Foundation - Matt Cole
SFHA - Eli Harji
Welcome and introductions
1. The Chair welcomed members to the meeting.
Notes of last meeting
2. The notes were agreed without changes.
Chair’s update
3. Following the general election, there has been an acceleration in movement in GB energy policy in relation to electricity grid decarbonisation and associated investment. Ed Miliband’s speech from 17 September gives a more detailed indication of the direction of travel and also touches on consumer issues. Both UK and Scottish Governments have indicated an enthusiasm to develop a closer working relationship.
4. There are clear indications that there will be a stronger focus on community benefits associated with new infrastructure. It is possible that the ECN will be asked to extend its remit in that area, depending on what ‘community’ is taken to mean in this setting, and depending on the outcome of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) wider review. There is no detail beyond this at present, but a SEAB meeting will take place on 20th September at which both the UK Government’s ‘Mission Control for Clean Power’ and GB Energy each have forty minutes on the agenda, and there may be greater clarity following this.
5. The Royal Society of Edinburgh is also working on community benefit and, with the British Standards Institute, on quality assurance around energy investments.
6. Separately, the Chair continues to sit on the Green Heat Finance Task Force, which is revisiting its second phase report. In the view of the Task Force, the lack of an investable financial model and confirmed policy/strategies remain severe barriers to progress.
7. Members were positive about the possible remit changes but there was agreement that this should be considered an expansion, not a realignment, and the focus must remain on consumers. Should opportunities to help scale up energy efficiency and low carbon support at household level present themselves, those should be explored. However, in line with discussions at the Scottish Ministerial meeting on 12 September, it was important not to lose the existing focus of the group, and to emphasise that income and price concerns also remain critical determinants of fuel poverty.
Member updates
8. Advice Direct Scotland:
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- Provided an update on case trends. Positively, self-disconnection numbers are down, but continuing to see cases for billing disputes / inaccurate bills
- RTS cases are coming though (discussed in more detail below)
- ADS is introducing a new platform for energy data gathering, and also opening a partnership phoneline for smaller third-party advisor groups. It is hoped this will be useful for HA’s who can currently face long delays and issues around permissions when contacting suppliers on behalf of clients
- Encountering barriers in getting contact details for non-domestic suppliers (Consumer Scotland and Ofgem suggested they might be able to assist in this)
9. Changeworks:
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- Pleased to see continuing commitment from the Scottish Government on Heat in Buildings in the Programme for Government
- In practice though, still waiting for Scottish Government approval for Area Based Energy Efficiency retrofit schemes
- Introducing a new green energy helpline, funded by Scottish Power Energy Networks (so available in the central and southern Scotland network area only) with the aim of providing bespoke advice on low carbon technologies, including smart meters and electric vehicles, and in particular supporting people who might otherwise be left behind in the transition
- Opening new Affordable Warmth services, potentially four including one which will be Scotland wide
- Also introducing a new social housing tenant energy support service, which includes help for new tenants potentially moving to properties with technologies with which they are not familiar – seven Housing Associations have signed-off
10. Trust Alliance Group / Energy Ombudsman:
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- Annual stats were recently published. Positively, energy case numbers are down 20% compared to the same period in 2023. Case numbers remain closely linked to energy price and seasonal change.
- Statutory instruments have been laid for the extension of the Ombudsman service to SMEs, which they hope will be in place by Christmas
- Particularly welcomed Ofgem’s decision to fine OVO £2.5m as a result of failure to implement Energy Ombudsman judgements. It is hoped this will encourage other suppliers to implement judgements more quickly whilst freeing up Ombudsman case handlers as they will have to follow up fewer cases
11. Energy Savings Trust:
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- Delivery of Home Energy Scotland is continuing with higher delivery volumes and higher follow up rates from awareness raising activities carried out this year
- Areas of concern are not changing and continue to include: sharp practice by installers of home renewables, often linked to ECO funding. Trust in the sector has been impacted as a result. Addressing this would require changes to ECO. Energy Ombudsman noted that Trading Standards Scotland has been doing work on this and Consumer Scotland also highlighted their ongoing investigation in a related area
12. Consumer Scotland:
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- In line with previous ECN discussions, Consumer Scotland is looking at the issues around energy affordability policy and the extent to which different consumer groups are often unable to afford energy, including those on low incomes, electric heating users, households with children, high essential energy users, and how they are supported by different individual schemes. (EST noted that there are also barriers for consumers, and administration costs for fund managers, associated with growing numbers of small or highly targeted funding pots, and that the FPAP was undertaking some work in this area)
- Also working with SFHA on ‘rental voids’ resulting from delays in suppliers undertaking metering work, which is particularly, prevalent in the social housing sector. The problem relates to the need for a domestic consumer account to be linked to the property before delays can be raised as a complaint, but houses without residents are often classed as business accounts
- Disabled peoples’ access to energy is a significant ongoing commitment, discussed in more detail below
13. The Wise Group:
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- Volumes remain high across Industry Initiative and Vulnerability and Carbon Monoxide Allowance-funded schemes, with about 80,000 customers supported this year
- Particular problems for social housing tenants, linked to capacity issues among suppliers to address technical energy issues (as above), and also gas supplies being capped and the difficulty in getting supplies uncapped
- Now doing more place-based, face-to-face work, including through schools, giving a direct link to actions addressing child poverty
14. Citizens Advice Scotland:
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- Currently finalising plans and conducting focus groups for the winter campaign (named Worried this Winter last year), with a focus on energy debt which is on average £2,500 per household supported through CABs, but higher in rural areas at £3,500
- Energy issues now account for a higher proportion of client cases, up from 11% in 21/22, to 16% of all clients today
- CAS is pushing for standing charge reform and implementation of a social tariff, especially in response to the cliff edge created by the changes to Winter Fuel Payment eligibility – they are seeing more clients as a result of this cliff edge
15. Ofgem:
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- The election disrupted a number of workstreams, but they are getting back on track now
- Looking especially at consumer outcomes work and whether this will go ahead, data improvement strategy which considers what data is needed, what should be published, etc., and the new consumer confidence publication
Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS)
16. Ofgem hosted a very well attended summit bringing together suppliers and consumer groups; some ECN members had participated, but not all due to limited space.
17. The summit had summarised the state of play as viewed by different sectors.
18. Energy UK has assembled a task force at the request of Ofgem. Whilst all suppliers are behind on the run rates needed to replace all meters by the switch-off date, some suppliers are performing better than others, hence there being value in exchange of experience.
19. Ofgem expects suppliers shortly to agree to a pledge to get as many meters as possible changed between now and the switch-off date, and to develop mitigation measures for those they can’t change.
20. The need for clear, shared messaging came out of the summit, very much in line with previous ECN discussions. Reliability of service was emphasised by consumer bodies: if suppliers are asked to change a meter, they must deliver to avoid loss of trust in the process.
21. Technically, suppliers suggest that 90% of meter replacements should be fine, but 10% will be much harder. Various possible approaches have been suggested (or are being used by some suppliers already) to ensure the most effective use of engineer time when the harder jobs are encountered:
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- Possible advance meter inspection of lots in an area
- Asking the customer to send a picture of the meter
- Engineer collaboration – agreed in theory, but may be more challenging in practice
22. Ofgem is hosting a session for consumer- facing organisations on 2 October for which there is an open invitation. The session will have three aims:
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- To pass on updates from suppliers
- To allow for those to be compared with experience from consumer bodies
- To discuss how best to cascade messages
23. CAS noted that (as above) getting existing meters fixed remains a barrier. The current system incentivises suppliers to install new smart meters, rather than to ensure that as many meters as possible are operational.
24. Consumer Scotland added that it is technically possible, even in locations lacking access to the Wide Area Network (WAN) to install smart meters in non-smart mode. Their understanding is that this not being considered at present, however, as suppliers don’t get a smart meter credit under this approach. They are also aware of a trial to use wi-fi connections to facilitate smart meter use, but appreciate that this needs a different form of connectivity and would therefore require a tweak to the supplier incentive to encourage this being adopted more broadly.
25. EST noted that their staff had recently discovered a Facebook group for people with complex meters and emphasised that the debate within that group indicates limited consumer understanding of the system at present. Members agreed that messaging and engagement processes need to take account of this, as it is likely that that many consumers don’t know they have an RTS meter, or what it does.
26. EST put forward a proposal for taking a more proactive, area-based approach across suppliers, whilst accepting this would need data-sharing agreements. It was suggested that this could utilise the Elexon database to identify RTS households, and there could be a role for the advice sector in delivery.
27. Ofgem thanked members for their comments and suggestions and promised to explore these further at the 2 October session.
Disabled people and energy affordability
28. Consumer Scotland presented on their ongoing work in this area (the slides circulated alongside these notes). The next stage of this research will seek to identify practical policy responses. Consumer Scotland will organise a standalone session for members interested in contributing to that discussion.
Future meeting schedule
29. To date, ECN meetings have been set flexibly, in order to respond to particular external drivers such as SEAB meetings or important consultations. Some members had suggested, and others agreed, that it would be helpful to have set dates in the diary further ahead, while maintaining flexibility.
30. Members agreed that practical implementation of this could mean that:
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- full day, face-to-face meetings are arranged for set dates in the spring and autumn, providing an opportunity for members to exchange experience in depth before and after the winter, complemented by -
- more focused, on-line meetings, arranged between those dates, as necessary
31. Consumer Scotland will arrange meeting dates accordingly on this basis, with the reservation that, should the changes outlined to SEAB above take place, there may be a need for additional in-person meetings in the short term.