Customer Support Award
Showcasing the ways utilities are offering tailored support to vulnerable customers – from households struggling financially to people facing disability, digital exclusion or other pressures that affect their ability to pay. This award celebrates companies that have gone the extra mile, beyond their regulatory requirements, to support those who need it most.
Customer Support Award
Showcasing the ways utilities are offering tailored support to vulnerable customers – from households struggling financially to people facing disability, digital exclusion or other pressures that affect their ability to pay. This award celebrates companies that have gone the extra mile, beyond their regulatory requirements, to support those who need it most.
Cadent
Our ambition is simple; we want to reach all our customers living in vulnerable situations with critical advice and support across our network regardless of geography and location. Where there are areas that don’t benefit from our award-winning Centre for Warmth programme, or have limited community services on offer, we bridge this gap with our fleet of Mobile Advice Centres (MACs). Our MAC vehicles bring support to the communities and allow us to provide advice and support on fuel poverty, gas safety, carbon monoxide, debt and energy efficiency advice by experienced and compassionate experts through tried and trusted partners.
National Grid Electricity Distribution
Our fuel poverty programme supported over 89,000 customers to save £80 million in the last three years with 39,000 customers saving £39 million this year alone. Trusted partners deliver significant results for customers. Personalised, one-to-one support ensures savings are achieved through in-depth advice and smart energy measures. Our expanded, holistic model links in smaller charities and grassroots organisations to maximise touch points and increase customer benefits - no matter whether a customers’ initial contact is with us, through partners or in their community. In turn, the collaborative approach has improved welfare support for the customers and communities we serve.
Northern Gas Networks
Northern Gas Networks is going above and beyond its regulated role to support customers and communities facing fuel poverty, poor health, financial hardship and disadvantage. Through its shareholder-funded Customer Support Fund and Community Partnering Fund, alongside its Services Beyond the Meter programme, NGN helps people who fall through gaps in support. These funds provide practical, targeted help where other funding cannot be used: from emergency support in gas interruptions and enhanced payments for Priority Services Register (PSR) customers, to grassroots community projects, central heating, appliance repairs and holistic advice. Together, they keep more people safe, warm and well at home.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution
In February 2026, SSEN Distribution became the first Distribution Network Operator (DNO) to provide some of its vulnerable customers with home battery packs. Since deliveries began at the start of the year, more than 11,500 units have been accepted by customers identified as being eligible. The batteries provide customers who are medically dependent on electricity – in that they rely on powered medical equipment at home – with added support and peace of mind by giving them the capability to power some devices for a period of time. A total of 20,000 will be provided by the end of ED2.
SP Energy Networks in partnership with Hope 4U
SP Energy Networks and Hope 4U have built a vulnerable customer support programme that goes far beyond regulatory obligation. Since August 2024, the partnership has completed 35,299 interventions across the SPEN network, identifying £17,589,587 in financial support for 23,786 adults and 13,347 children. Customers include those in financial crisis, living with disability, managing long-term health conditions, and unable to engage with digital services. Every person receives a named adviser, a holistic assessment, and end-to-end support in a single phone call. No app. No portal. Just a real person who stays until things are genuinely better.
Wales & West Utilities and Centre for Sustainable Energy
WHAM (Warm Homes Advice & Money)
Wales & West Utilities (WWU) and the Centre for Sustainable Energy's Warm Homes Advice and Money (WHAM) programme is transforming how vulnerable households receive support across Bristol, Bath & Northeast Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset. Through a £1million investment in GD2 and a £600,000 investment in GD3, the partnership delivers holistic advice addressing fuel poverty, financial hardship, health inequalities and energy vulnerability. Embedding specialist advisers within trusted community organisations and healthcare settings, WHAM helps households maximise income, manage debt, access grants, improve home energy efficiency and stay safe. It shows customer support can build resilience, change lives and reduce vulerability.
Wessex Water
Wessex Water Community Drop-ins are held at locations across our water supply and wastewater region, offering customers the chance to speak with a customer advisor face-to-face. Our advisors can answer questions about bills, refer for support for those struggling to pay your bill, provide advice on saving water and avoiding blockages and answer questions about water quality, plumbing and drainage. It has proven a valuable addition to Wessex Water's customer service offer, proving popular with customers by engaging with them directly within their own communities.
UK Power Networks
What if customer support could prevent a crisis before it begins? That's the question driving UK Power Networks' award-winning approach to vulnerability. By combining machine learning, community insight and trusted partnerships, the company is identifying vulnerable customers earlier, understanding their needs more deeply and delivering support that goes far beyond traditional utility services. The result is a model that supported more than 213,000 vulnerable customers last year, generated £32.24 million in social value and is helping set a new benchmark for vulnerable customer care across the energy sector.