Citizens Advice has found that digitally disadvantaged consumers are at much higher risk of loyalty penalties and could be left behind by service changes in the energy market.
Released in collaboration with Age UK, a joint statement read that energy companies are prioritising online customer service channels to meet increased demand. As such, offline services like telephone helplines are now getting worse as a result of these changes.
With these changes being implemented across the industry, people who do not have access to the internet or lack digital skills are now having to use a phone and thus are unable to get the full support capabilities being offered.
In order to rectify this, the two organisations have presented a number of recommendations that could be implemented now to maximise the support being offered throughout the winter months amid the energy crisis.
One of the first recommendations calls on Ofgem to utilise its Market Compliance Reviews to ensure energy suppliers have telephone services which are high quality and easily accessible for all consumers without additional charges.
This is not the first time Ofgem has been called upon to support vulnerable customers. The energy regulator had been called upon to increase support for vulnerable households earlier this year with The Good Law Project having threatened Ofgem with court action if it failed to comply. This is in relation to its legal duties to protect vulnerable customers amid plans to raise the energy price cap in mid-August.
This escalated when Ofgem announced an energy price cap rise to £3,549 per year in late-August prompting The Good Law Project, Fuel Poverty Action and the Highlands & Islands Housing Association’s Affordable Warmth Group to issue plans to sue Ofgem on allegations it has “failed to mitigate the impact of rising energy bills on consumers”.
Alongside the recommendation above, energy suppliers should make sure their digital and telephone services are presented clearly and are accessible for everyone. This could be achieved via feedback from people using their services.
The final recommendation states that third-party intermediaries like switching websites should ensure they are designed around the needs of digitally disadvantaged people. This could be presented in the form of providing offline routes to access services.
The joint statement also includes a medium to longer term reform for consideration. This calls on Ofgem to ensure higher service standards in the future by introducing a new consumer duty to drive positive outcomes for consumers, including those who are classified as digitally disadvantaged.
Last year, Citizens Advice accused Ofgem of a “catalogue of errors” that left consumers with a multi-billion-pound bill due to the collapse of suppliers.
Citizens Advice outlined in a report a number of times it believes Ofgem should have used its enforcement powers to manage supplier behaviour. This includes declining customer service over the past three years, noting that the regulator only opened one formal customer service investigation during this period.
