Crisis support

In line with the Social DSO drive, the service also aims to be an industry leader in fuel poverty support, helping vulnerable and in crisis people suffering as a result of the cost of living and energy crisis.

“For the people that we're supporting, the cost-of-living crisis is almost becoming a way of life and many are feeling like there's little or no light at the end of a very long tunnel,” comments Hayley Hughes, assistant CEO at Citizens Advice Manchester.

“We're there to provide them with crisis support, which might be access to food vouchers, fuel vouchers, or making sure they are aware of the financial support they are eligible for, such as income maximisation through welfare benefit uptake, or financial support from the government or local authority.”

The service is agile enough to adapt to changing needs, for example in response to the government’s announcement of changes to the winter fuel payments, there was a push to focus more on support for the people impacted and uptake of pension credits, which can provide a gateway into other forms of support.

“For the people that we're supporting, the cost-of-living crisis is almost becoming a way of life and many are feeling like there's little or no light at the end of a very long tunnel.”

Hayley Hughes, assistant CEO, Citizens Advice Manchester

As Hughes relates, Take Charge is already improving the lives of people having trouble. In one case, an individual who had moved into a new property after fleeing domestic violence had accumulated energy debt while she was trying to get back on her feet. “We explored her situation, and helped her apply to a fund to

wipe off some of her debts and supported her to negotiate with the energy supplier to agree an affordable and sustainable repayment plan for the remainder of her arrears,” explains Hughes.

Debt and fuel poverty are complex problems and finding solutions isn’t always straightforward. For this reason, the hardest hit in society are unlikely to benefit from LCTs if they are simply fighting to stay afloat. However, by helping break down their problems and get them out of a crisis situation, Take Charge can then “open up the conversation and explore the options,” says Hughes.

Getting customers on board with the low carbon journey can involve various other hurdles, for example an individual may be initially willing to progress with an installation, but an unexpected obstacle gets in the way putting them off.

“ENW’s community team comes in behind the unlooping process to talk with householders about LCTs, to make them aware of them, so they know they're future proofed and ready when the time comes.”

Stephanie Trubshaw, customer services & connections director, ENW

ENW is launching projects designed to remove key blockers that could hold up LCT uptake in areas of the network facing capacity challenges. The first of these kicked off in January and involves the proactive “unlooping” or separation of a single electricity connection shared between multiple properties within the South Manchester area.

Unlooping is required to prepare a property for LCTs. ENW’s engineers are unlooping services in areas where there is a high proportion of looped properties and LCT adoption is starting to materialise. This proactive approach is cost efficient and makes future LCT adoption much more straightforward.

“ENW’s community team then comes in behind the unlooping process to talk with householders about LCTs, to make them aware of them, so they know they're future proofed and ready when the time comes,” says ENW’s Trubshaw.

A Utility Week Intelligence report, in association with Electricity North West