East Midlands CAN Thursday 4 th September

1. Social Obligations programme Commitment to Tackling Fuel Poverty East Midlands CAN Thursday 4th September Richard Murrell Social Obligations Officer

2. WHO WE ARE Lincoln Nottingham Boston Stoke-on-Trent EAST MIDLANDS Tipton Shrewsbury Birmingham Control Room & Contact Centre Coventry East Wales WEST MIDLANDS Milton Keynes West Wales SOUTH WALES Gloucester Swansea Cardiff Bristol Control Room & Contact Centre Mendip Barnstaple Somerset SOUTH WEST Torquay & Exeter Plymouth Bodmin Redruth 2

3. WHAT WE DO • 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 Connect new customers Restore power quickly when problems occur Maintain & reinforce the network 3

4. Vulnerability – WPD’s established services • Maintain a Priority Service Register • Prepare customers for power cuts • 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 • 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

5. 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: • 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. WPD’s social obligations strategy • It will achieve 4 key objectives: Broaden our understanding of customer vulnerability Improve the accuracy of our records with respect to vulnerable customers Improve the services provided to vulnerable customers during power cuts Address fuel poverty by providing referrals to partners that can assist with energy affordability matters • Crucial to the success of this will be building on existing partnership working

9. WPD’s RIIO-ED1 Business Plan outputs: • Our Business Plan contains 17 social obligations commitments, under the four strategic objectives:

10. WPD’s RIIO-ED1 Business Plan outputs:

11. Objective: Improve our understanding of vulnerability Objective: Improve the data held on the Priority Service Register Objective: Address fuel poverty by supporting customers to access key information Our social obligations programme 2013/14 Objective: Improve services provided for vulnerable customers (in relation to power cuts) • WPD PSR Contact Centre team established • Data cleanse, resilience advice & fuel poverty referrals BSI standard on inclusive service provision - Externally audited • Extended Red Cross & RVS partnerships • incl. new Crisis Packs • NEST fuel poverty referral partnership • Wales • Citizens Advice Bureau referral partnership • Coventry & Leicester Annual vulnerable customer research 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

12. Every customer given the option to be referred onwards to Citizens Advice for support regarding affordability / tariffs / energy efficiency 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 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

13. 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 • 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 • Also promote the PSR via CAB’s existing services • Detailed monthly reports are used to measure the benefits

14. Delivering clear, measurable benefits £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. Also referred to ‪ECO scheme for a replacement for current grade G rated boiler, saving £310 a year on energy costs Couple with a disabled child, had mortgage arrears, eviction notice & £50,000 of unsecured debt. Supported to gain suspension of eviction warrant, established regular token payments to non-priority creditors & a grant for utility arrears Client was confused by energy tariffs & had no access to a computer. CAB helped her to compare tariffs on switching website & handled switch on her behalf to best available deal 73 years old, lives alone in 2 bedroom house. Fixed 1 year tariff which ended. Confused by supplier letter stating she could be changed to new energy plan, but must elect to. Therefore moved to standard tariff Elderly, lives alone with severe arthritis. Struggles to climb stairs & literally has to crawl up. CAB gained a GP referral to an occupational therapist & helped apply for a disabled facilities grant

15. Community outreach projects • Teamed up with expert partners, Energy Saving Trust and National Energy Action • Identify, train and support local volunteers to become community ‘energy champions’ • Engage organisations such as Age UK, Care & Repair, Citizens Advice, Councils, housing associations, NHS trusts and elderly forums

16. Community outreach projects - outcomes • Combination of “one to one” and “one to many” outreach approaches

17. 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 • Expansion of successful pilots into business as usual as soon as possible • Greater involvement in existing local authority/community schemes.