1. EHU Supplier Liaison Meeting 26th July 2017
Natasha Gilmour,
Angus McMillan

2. EHU domestic case volumes Quarter 1: April to June 2017
2227 domestic cases logged
↑6% from previous quarter and ↑23% against same period in 2016/2017
25% of complaints were priorities, ↓7%.
86% of cases were domestic, ↓3%
April and May downward trend in complaint, then spike in June.
Carried out training in Manchester and Gateshead as we were concerned about referral volumes during transition.
Considerable increase in contacts to ATA which normally average 100 per month, increasing each month and in June recorded 391 cases – highest ever level recorded.

3. Referral From: Q1 2017/2018 complaints
Similar referral patterns.
Continuing to work with OS:E.
Differences across regions you’ll see again less consumers in Scotland reach EHU via consumer service higher proportion direct from consumer and bureaux. Similar to Q3, direct contacts from cons in Scotland has increased slightly as has referrals from cach for English consumers – only 2% increase.

4. High Level Domestic Codes:
Q1 2017/2018
Q4 proportion of complaints self explanatory
Looking at previous quarters across year from Q2:
you can see a sharp decline in billing cases (progress on billing migration)
slight continued increase in debt cases
Continued downward trend in metering (changes to metering operators contracts)
Sharp rise in PPM in Q3 with downward trends in Q4

5. Regional Differences
England
Scotland
Wales
Catch up bill received
103
Disputed bill, customer not responsible 14 11 90
Supply point administration query (MPRN / MPR) 12 6
PPM self-disconnection (unable to credit meter) 89 9
Debt recovery practices 59 8
Erroneous transfer 5 54
Meter accuracy
Overall, there are clear parallels between complaint code themes across the nations.
Billing complaints dominate across regions and a key point to highlight is that prepayment self-disconnection is no longer the top category for England and Wales. This also coincides with a reduction in prepayment cases for this quarter.
Couldn’t compare past 12 months due to code changes.
Catch up bill – back billing not being picked up?
PPM =self disconnection concerning and tops list in england but quite a margin and is highest in Wales and PPM self disconnection 4th in scotland buts theres nothing between 2 and 4th, MPR – tenancy issues?

6. EHU Performance: Q1 2017-2018 April to June 2017 January to March 2017
April to June 2017
January to March 2017
Changes from Q4 16/17 to Q1 17/18
Complaints Received
1,496
1,755
↓15%
Enquiries
208
290
↓28%
% of complaints that were priorities
26%
32%
↓6%
Ask the Adviser
751
279
↑170%
Cases closed within 35 WD (75%) domestic
73%
New
Cases closed within 66 WD (90%) domestic
89%
Cases closed within 66 WD (75%) micro-business
Cases closed within 66 WD (90%) micro-business
88%
85% of cases achieving a tangible outcome domestic
85%
75% of cases achieving a tangible outcome micro-business
70%
Financial Redress (domestic)
£405,510
£337,899
↑20%
Financial redress per closed complaint
£268
£185
↑44%
85% of domestic consumers independently surveyed being satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of service
93%
92%
↑1%
83% of Micro-business consumers satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of service (81%)
81%
↑7%
70% of cases quality checked categorised as green
90% of cases quality checked categorised as green or amber
75% green
96% green or amber

7. EHU outcomes

8. Financial redress breakdown

9. Overview of tracker findings
No change
Satisfaction with outcome (Q17)
Overall satisfaction with quality of service: KPI (Q19)
Improved
Satisfaction with handover (Q11)
Manner of staff: any positive comments (Q14)
Satisfaction with length of time to deal with problem (Q15)
Consumers feeling like they were kept informed (Q16)
Opinion of supplier (Q21)
Declined
Staff understanding of problem (Q13)
Made a difference (Q20a)
Q4 Spring Report
Cases closed:
Feb ’17– Apr ’17
All changes in results since the last quarter are not statistically significant

10. Resources and operational update
Staffing changes
2 new Caseworkers started
Training & Referrals
1) Consumer Service - Training at both contact centres
Work in progress - Working with OS:E where duplicate cases received – consumers will decide who investigates. Improve contacts in teams

11. Advice & Stakeholder Team
Includes 8 new suppliers, and the 751 Ask the Adviser calls (170% increase). 391 of the calls were in June.

12. Other actions Supplier engagement planning for the year ahead
Supplier to Supplier contacts list
New Supplier Pack

13. Issues of concern
Nexus? Suggestions of issues with erroneous transfers and information on IGT sites.
Problems with Meter Operators:
Safety concerns with how a meter has been fitted
Unable to arrange appointments or MOP refusing to attend a meter job

14. Metering: Case Study 1
Consumer was 72 years old and registered disabled. She had a smart meter and paid by direct debit. The gas smart meter had stopped working and she was off supply.
Before being put in touch with the EHU, she had already been in touch with her council landlord who confirmed there were no problems with the heating and identified the meter screen being blank and recommended she contact her gas supplier.
The consumer had spent 2 hours on the phone being passed around different numbers before being put in touch with the EHU. She had now been off supply for 24 hours.
The supplier ran diagnostic tests remotely on the smart meter and confirmed there was a battery fail.
An emergency appointment was booked however, the engineer that attended did not deal with smart meters so he had to call for a different engineer to go out which delayed the supply being restored.
It later transpired a standard gas meter had been installed to get the gas supply back on and a further appointment had to be booked for smart meters to be reinstalled.

15. Metering: Case Study 2 The consumer was of pensionable age.
A smart meter was installed by the supplier for gas, however the consumer was informed that a gas safe engineer was required to complete part of the installation.
When the gas safe engineer had attended he stated he was unable to complete the work stating the smart meter was not fully installed. The consumer was repeatedly passed between both parties.
Following EHU contact the suppliers metering team spoke with the consumer and it was confirmed the gas safe engineer would be needed to check the appliances and internal pipework prior to the meter being connected to prevent issues such as a gas leak.

16. Communications for consumers with a visual impairment
A partially sighted consumer has contacted us several times as he has had a series of problems obtaining communications in large print. His first case was in 2011 and we have had 7 subsequent cases. The consumer requires all communications to be printed at size 28.

17. Reasons and impact
The consumer does generally get bills in the correct font size, however other communications such as information about tariff changes often arrive in small print. In the past he has been unaware of debt recovery action being taken against him because he could not read warning letters. On one occasion this resulted in a debt visit from an unknown person and a card being put through the letterbox that he was unable to read. The consumer believes it is a reasonable expectation that all literature from his service providers that is sent to him is in the correct font so he can read it, and that it is a direct contravention of the Equalities Act 2010 not to make reasonable adjustments when dealing with disabled people.

18. Obtaining the WHD broader group
A recent case has highlighted how difficult it is for certain consumers to gain the essential assistance that the Warm Home Discount provides.

19. The consumers situation
The consumer has severe mental health concerns, suffers from PTSD and has a very low income. He lives in Northern Scotland and cannot afford to heat his home properly
He has tried to engage in the market by shopping around for the lowest possible tariff. He is also eligible for some, but not all, suppliers WHD broader groups

20. Problems the consumer encounters
The consumer can become very confused when trying to arrange a transfer
He has been told on numerous occasions that a supplier offers the WHD broader group only to find he is not eligible once his transfer has been completed
There has also been situations when the consumer has transferred and then discovered that the WHD broader group is now closed

21. Questions?