On 11 July 2024, Energy Projects Plus attended National Energy Action’s first smart meter symposium in London.

The event brought together over 60 attendees from across a range of sectors to reiterate
the plethora of benefits smart meters offer; examine what challenges consumers face; and
to collaboratively discuss solutions, opportunities and priorities for the remainder of the rollout.

The following summary provides an overview of attendee’s feedback throughout the different
discussion sessions. This is reflective of the views shared by attendees on the day and not
the view of Energy Projects Plus, or National Energy Action.

Attendees were asked how the smart meter rollout campaign could incentivise customers:

• National focus/promotional plan on smart meters with targeted consistent communications. Help needed to overcome historical barriers which are still entrenched.
• Energy suppliers to link in with trusted community groups/intermediaries who can then offer follow-up support or home visits.
• Provide free smart meter training for third party advisers who are face-to-face with customers.
• Incentivise charities/community groups to make client referrals directly to energy suppliers
• Suppliers to address previous issues via a dedicated consumer-facing smart meter team. If a meter cannot be fitted at the current time, explain why and what the alternative solutions might be. This would improve the experience for households.
• Requirement for energy suppliers to offer or signpost people on the priority services register to an organisation that can provide one-to-one advice on smart meters.
• Education and info sharing – how they work/benefits/myth bust one-to-one. Manage expectations e.g. explaining how savings are not automatic, but the smart meter and in-home display can help.
• Nuanced messaging as we don’t want vulnerable people to reduce their consumption.
• Give practical examples i.e. ease of accessing financial support such as EBSS discount applied directly to smart meter accounts during the energy crisis; cost savings as not having to travel to vend.
• A referral to home energy efficiency advice (national or local) or energy efficiency measures (low cost or extensive measures).
• Energy suppliers to communicate with consumers about time-of-use tariffs to reinforce the financial benefit.
• Trust issues could be improved by guarantees for service/what they can expect.
• Further price differentials for DFS or DSR participation (but concern this would benefit EV drivers disproportionately).
• All parties need to be focused on articulating the benefits, especially for those who prepay for their energy or for people in vulnerable circumstances.
• It should be an enhanced, clear right for tenants to request a smart meter.
• Explain how half-hourly readings benefit overall management of our energy system and communicate how the energy market will change.
• Suppliers offering ‘carrots’ to consumers rather than ‘sticks’, but requirements could be enforced in some cases e.g. installed alongside grants.
• Meaningful aftercare.
• Financial incentives for consumers, e.g.:

• • Offer shopping vouchers/gift cards (although some suppliers have tried this previously and it only led to a 4% conversion rate)
  • Free energy or discounted energy
  • Welcome bonus
  • Refer a friend
  • Competitive tariffs for smart meter owners
  • Recognisable reward schemes – partnerships with Nectar/Tesco Clubcard
  • Cash rewards or household incentives for successful access to property/repeat appointments due to tech issues or cancelled visits due to supplier capacity.

Attendees were asked how we could adapt the smart meter journey for people with different vulnerabilities:

• More research needed on benefits of smart for different characteristics based on Priority Services Register needs codes and working with specialist charities to drive awareness.
• Outbound calls/texts to different types of customers based on their needs
• Vulnerability training for smart meter installers – enabling them to recognise vulnerabilities and what support might be needed leading up to, during and after an install.
• Instances of customer vulnerabilities not being known at point of installation – is there a better way of identifying vulnerable customers at the beginning of the smart meter journey?
• Priority services register – make customers aware of what this is and ensure smart meter benefits are built into the conversation.
• Promote via health service (e.g. OTs at the point of discharging patients).
• Additional support required for customers who are dependent upon electricity – could this come from a health partner e.g. include information on smart meters (and benefit of switching to credit mode if applicable) in literature/guidance on using electrical medical equipment at home?
• All parties (suppliers, consumer advocates, housing providers, local authorities etc.) to promote the accessible in-home display. Give free demo devices to charities/community groups who can then physically show them to their clients.
• Free in-home display replacements for vulnerable customers.
• Energy suppliers to partner more with trusted community organisations or charities e.g. RNIB to help visually impaired customers.
• Joining up consistent advice and referrals/handovers between advice providers or local or national agencies.
• Energy suppliers to follow up with vulnerable customers when there has been a power cut, to ensure that their smart meter is functioning correctly when back on supply.
• Education on consumer rights is needed e.g. when does the warranty run out? What are you entitled to if things go wrong with your smart meter? Who is responsible?
• Move away from app-only solutions, however there was also a request for apps to be compatible with iPads as that is often not the case. iPads have larger displays offering opportunities for larger text/design features/images.
• Review the aftercare offer – who best to provide this and address issues post install? Need to map out which agencies should be involved.
• Already have success with targeted local campaigns for people with health conditions/disabilities via the Smart Energy GB in Communities programme – draw on these learnings

Other points raised at the symposium:

• Locally based community organisations are in a position of trust, but they need funding and training to communicate the benefits and reach people face-to-face.
• Frontline advisers aware that clients have multiple issues meaning that smart meters aren’t a priority for them. Importance of building trust and recognising when it’s the right time to discuss it.
• Gas safety engineers can’t make required checks on appliances if the customer has self-disconnected and there are arrears from standing charges building up on the meter. It was queried whether a free phoneline and free energy top-ups for smart prepay could be provided in this instance to ensure they take place?
• Need to be looking ahead at the overall timescale for the rollout (and RTS replacement) and how future challenges will be dealt with.
• Danger of creating a two-tier energy system where vulnerable consumers are left behind on legacy meters.
• Need for a centralised database of properties where smart meters cannot yet be installed and
  the reason – this would help industry to identify collaborative solutions.
• What can be done with smart meter data? Understanding of what can be done/who can access this data is quite opaque. How can we make more use of aggregated/anonymised data to support vulnerable households?
• Potential for more regulation, concentrated on specific tenures.
• How could the distribution network operators play a bigger role? What might this look like?
• Greater clarity is needed around who is responsible and accountable for what with smart meters to help overcome technical challenges.

Our Smart Meter fact sheet is available on our advice page, here.

Please contact info@epplus.org for more information

Our friends at NEA (National Energy Action) have scoured the manifesto pledges of the main political Parties. Here, we’re sharing the energy pledges from the Top 3 English Parties:

Conservative Party

• Maintain the energy price cap
• Review and reform standing charges
• Increase efficiency in local markets for electricity
• Give households the choice of smart energy tariffs
• Invest £6 billion in energy efficiency over the next three years to make around a million homes warmer
• Fund an energy efficiency voucher scheme, open to every household in England, to support the installation of energy efficiency measures and solar panels, helping families lower their bills

Labour Party

• Deliver a net zero electricity system by 2030
• Invest an extra £6.6 billion over the next parliament, doubling the existing planned government investment, to upgrade five million homes
• Establish the Warm House Plan to offer grants and low-interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating to cut bills
• Ensure homes in the private rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030

Liberal Democrats

• Introduce a social tariff
• Bring in new private rented sector standards of EPC C by 2028
• Launch an emergency Home Energy Upgrade programme targeted at low income households
• Introduce a new subsidised Energy-Saving Home scheme with pilots to work out the most efficient combinations of support
• A one-off windfall tax
• Decouple electricity prices from the wholesale gas price
• Eliminate regional differences in domestic energy bills

What will happen after the election?

It’s currently unclear what the parliamentary timetable will be. NEA is expecting the parliamentary calendar will be rewritten to change the recess dates but it’s hard to predict when this will be.

There will be a King’s speech quite soon after the election to set out the legislative agenda. In the 2019 election the Queen’s speech happened a week later.

Party conferences in September will be crucial for setting the political agenda.

Most households in the UK are paying for their energy on a standard variable tariff, which is regulated by Ofgem’s Price Cap.

The “cap” is an upper-limit of how much our energy suppliers can charge us, per unit of energy we use (but the more we use, the more we pay). The Price Cap also determines the upper-limit of the daily standing charge our suppliers can charge us.

Ofgem currently announces any changes to the Price Cap 4 times per year, with the new prices taking effect on the 1st of January, April, July, and October.

Today’s (24th May) announcement confirms an expected drop, of around 7% in what we’ll be charged for each unit of energy we use from the 1st of July, to the 30th of September.

Source: Ofgem (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-price-cap)

Unfortunately, this gain is likely to be very short-lived, as Cornwall Insight (the leading industry analysts, and the company Martin Lewis uses for the predictions made by the Money Saving Expert website) is predicting a 12% rise when Ofgem announces the Price Cap for October-December. Realistically, we’re likely to be several years away from any chance of prices returning to pre-pandemic levels.

It is therefore vital that anybody struggling with the current cost of fuel notifies their energy supplier immediately, so any provisions available can be put in place.

Anybody in unaffordable arrears should seek advice as quickly as possible, preferably from an FCA accredited debt advisor, who can offer advice and support around all household debts.

To learn more about reducing bills by reducing energy usage at home, and maximising any grants available to increase your home’s energy efficiency, our Save Energy Advice Line is available 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday (aside from Bank Holidays, and the days between Christmas and New Year). Call free on 0800 043 0151, or email advice@epplus.org. 

Investing in remedial work to fix the worst quality homes in England could deliver savings of more than £1.5bn per year for NHS and social care budgets, new research has found.

Research from the Centre for Ageing Better has indicated that unsafe homes headed by someone aged over 55 are costing the NHS £595m in treatment costs for injuries or illness linked to poor-quality housing.

According to the Building Research Establishment’s research on behalf of the charity, the most common category one hazard for older people’s homes is excess cold.

Older, larger homes with solid brick walls, can be particularly costly to warm sufficiently to keep residents feeling well during winter.

Category one hazards are those that pose the most severe risk to the health and safety of occupants and include structural deficiencies such as collapsing roofs and environmental concerns, such as damp and mould. Resolving excess cold in every home where the head is over 55 would result in savings to the NHS of £325m per year.

In addition, if hazards, damp and cold were eradicated from homes lived in by people aged 50 and over, it would save £1.1 billion in formal care costs per year by 2027 according to analysis by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE).

The savings from removing health hazards would increase over time, to £2.8bn a year by 2042.

The new LSE analysis also indicates the potential for a further £3.5 billion annual savings in unpaid care costs for older people if the nation’s poor-quality housing crisis was resolved.

Similarly, the cost savings in the level of unpaid care required would increase from £3.5bn a year in 2027 to £7.1bn a year by 2042.

Formal care costs refer to the expenses associated with adult social care services provided to individuals who require assistance with daily activities, such as eating, dressing, and shopping, while unpaid care refers to care provided by family members, neighbours or friends.

Current estimates from the Centre for Ageing Better indicate that eight million people are living in dangerous homes, 2.6 of whom are aged 55 and over.

Of the 3.7 million English homes classified as non-decent, over half of these are headed by someone over the age of 55.

The Centre for Ageing Better report urges the government to develop a national strategy to fix poor-quality homes of all tenure types across England, backed by “sufficient, long-term funding”.

Dr Carole Easton OBE, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said

“There is a terrible personal cost for older people who live in homes that are making them ill and which have the potential to seriously injure and even kill them. Older people are more likely to live in a dangerous, damp or cold home and are among the most vulnerable to the health impacts which can exacerbate conditions such as asthma and arthritis, as well as increasing the risk of an acute episode such as a stroke or heart attack.”

“But this country’s poor-quality housing crisis also reaps a terrible cost on our already stretched health and social care sectors. Fixing unsafe homes is a value-for-money solution that will not only help people to live healthier and longer lives, but will also reduce pressures on health and social care.”

In addition, she said “it beggars belief that home improvement is not higher up the political agenda”, concluding that improving the country’s health cannot be done without improving the quality of England’s homes.

Dr Nicola Brimblecombe, senior researcher at the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre and lead of the LSE research project (CAPE), said:

“Our study clearly shows how poor quality and unsuitable housing can increase people’s care needs and their ability to live independently, negatively affect wellbeing, and reduce choice.

“Improving housing has the potential to improve people’s quality of life, reduce health and care inequalities, and save money for government as well as having wider benefits to the environment and society. Negative effects of poor housing for social care can be long-term – action to improve poor quality housing cannot come soon enough.”

At a local level, Energy Projects Plus is delighted to be working in partnership with NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, on fuel poverty pilot schemes designed to identify patients suffering chronic health conditions likely to be exacerbated by cold homes, supporting them in reducing their energy bills, and assessing them for energy efficient home improvements that can ensure they keep warm and well through winter.

Since the inception of this vital Cost of Living Support fund from central government (beginning in 2020 as the “COVID Winter Grant Scheme”), all Local Authorities have received funding to deliver additional support to some residents.

We were pleased to hear the announcement in the Spring Budget, that the Chancellor had extended this fund through to 30 September 2024.

Through our partnerships with Halton, Sefton, and Wirral Councils, we will be delivering the following aspects of their Household Support Fund projects:

Halton

We can support low-income, residents who are struggling to pay their energy bills, and who do not use prepay meters. We will assess each case on its own merits, and where applications are successful, we will submit a payment directly to our client’s energy supplier, based on household composition.

Sefton

We can support low-income, residents who are struggling to pay their energy bills, and who do not use prepay meters. We will assess each case on its own merits, and where applications are successful, we will submit a payment directly to our client’s energy supplier, to the equivalent of 1 month’s worth of energy bill payments.

We can also support low-income, vulnerable residents with limited fuel debt relief.

Wirral

We can support low-income, residents who are struggling to pay their energy bills, and who do not use prepay meters. We will assess each case on its own merits, and where applications are successful, we will submit a request to Wirral Council for a payment to be issued directly to our client’s energy supplier, to the equivalent of 3 months’ worth of energy bill payments.

We can also support low-income, vulnerable residents with limited fuel debt relief.

We also deliver an emergency heating repair scheme for low-income, vulnerable Wirral residents. This can cover the costs of a Gas Safe Registered heating engineer visiting a property to repair a central heating system, or individual heaters, such as gas fires.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

To refer yourself to any of the above schemes, please either telephone our Save Energy Advice Line on 0800 043 0151, or email the team at advice@epplus.org, or complete our self-referral webform. Our service is open 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday, aside from Bank Holidays and the working days between Christmas and New Year.

To refer your clients/members/tenants to any of the above schemes, please use the referral forms available on our website, here: www.epplus.org.uk/referrals.

Since 1970, the 22nd of April each year is Earth Day. As an environmental charity, it offers us a chance to reflect on our actions that help to mitigate the impact of climate change, through the reduction of household carbon emissions across Cheshire & Merseyside.

In a typical year, we support approximately 9,000 households to reduce their energy bills by around £1m, with an associated reduction in carbon emissions of about 1,000tCO₂ (being lifetime tonnes of carbon dioxide).

Many people won’t necessarily realise it, but every time you save yourself £1 off your energy bills, by remembering to switch off a light, or not overfilling your kettle, you’re also helping reduce your carbon footprint.

Just some of the ways you can reduce your carbon footprint at home are:

• Switching to a 100% renewable energy electricity tariff
• Mains gas is unlikely to ever become fully renewable, so can you swap from gas cooking to electric?
• Similarly, might you be one of the households to take advantage of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, to swap out a gas boiler with a Heat Pump?
• Consider your commute too – is walking/cycling/public transport a viable option to help you offset some petrol/diesel miles?
• Adopting smarter driving techniques for when you do need to drive, and/or considering an electric vehicle
• Checking your home’s Energy Performance Certificate to see what recommendations you might want to undertake
• If your Energy Performance Certificate recommends increasing your insulation, upgrading your heating system, or installing solar panels, might you be eligible for support through the Energy Company Obligation?

It’s always a good idea to check your current carbon footprint, to help you see where you might want to make changes, and also so you can measure the impact those changes make. There are many carbon footprint calculators available. Here’s one from WWF that lets you see how your diet, travel, home & leisure/lifestyle impact on your carbon footprint: https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ 

The main theme for Earth Day 2024 is “Planet VS Plastics” – read all about it by clicking on the logo below