Helping our most vulnerable customers this winter
Philippe Commaret, Managing Director for Customers
| EDF
Prices rose for the first time this year at the beginning of October, putting the cost of energy into sharp focus once again. Last winter I spoke with PoliticsHome about the impact we were seeing on our customers at that time – how we were stepping in to help and a need for sustainable, long-term solutions.
One year on, prices have remained well above their pre-crisis levels with the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit saying bills are expected to be 55% higher than before the crisis and those long-term solutions are still yet to gain traction.
We’re working hard to deliver competitive offers for our customers that will help them save cash and carbon. And earlier this year we also launched a tracker tariff, EDF Ensure, which remains £50 below the price cap, discounting the standing charge rather than unit rate so all that sign-up see the same financial benefit. And we’ve recently launched our new Sunday Saver challenge, which gives customers up to 16 hours of free electricity on Sundays in exchange for lowering their energy use at peak times during the week.
‘Sunday Saver’ is utilised through a smart meter, which also gives customers access to its exclusive Energy Hub platform online or via our app. There, customers can see a personalised view of their energy usage, helping them better understand their consumption and identify opportunities for energy efficiency. EDF has found that customers who regularly access Energy Hub reduce their bills by up to £41 a year, whilst reducing their carbon footprint.
However, we know that these offers alone won’t be enough for some customers and for the third year we’ve increased funding for extra support to £29million. As part of this funding, we have a new initiative, ‘Energy Doctors’, who will visit some of our most vulnerable customers in fuel-poverty areas in north London, providing support and helping improve home energy efficiency, completing free EPCs as well as seeing if they can get the Warm Home Discount and if they can also sign up for other schemes such as ECO or GBIS.
We’re also acting again this year to help tackle mounting debt. Over the past two years, worryingly, we’ve seen the value of cash-cheque debt increase by 65% and across all our customers, the average debt is up by over 45% and sits at over £1,100. To help get customers back on track, we are reintroducing our debt matching scheme, which wiped off £1.1m of debt from customer’s bills and 75% of EDF customers supported with debt matching up to September 2023 remained debt free after 12 months.
Another way we are helping our vulnerable customers is through the funding of our many partners. We work closely with Plymouth Citizens Advice for in-depth financial support and debt advice as well as with IncomeMax, which helps customers, identify and claim for any state benefits and tax credits. I’m really proud of the work we do with our partners, who helped 65,000 customers last year with support including debt advice, income maximisation, energy efficiency advice, debt clearance and financial assistance payments.
We will also continue to provide further direct financial support through our Customer Support Fund, which has helped 55,000 customers since it was introduced. The fund also replaces inefficient or broken White Good appliances and is alongside our Warmer Winter Shop. Launched last year, this has helped over 1,000 customers, providing items and energy efficiency bundles for free, such as air fryers and electric blankets.
As part of ongoing discussions with Government, we are continuing to push for an industry-wide approach on support to customers and welcome the step to bring suppliers together to discuss the most effective solutions for tackling affordability. We believe a long-term sustainable solution targeted at those groups most in need, such as a social tariff would make a real difference to those most vulnerable.
Only through meaningful Government and industry-wide intervention paired with better data matching, such as a single cross sector Priority Services Register, will affordability improve for those most in need of support.
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