Success factors – engaging the fuel poor in collective energy buying

Success Factors – engaging the fuel poor in collective energy

buying

Phil Beardmore

Birmingham and Solihull Together – overall headlines

• About 10,000 households engaged with the campaign, only 1422 households registered their interest in being part of a collective switch as against the target of 4900 (29% of target)

• 158 households made 331 product switches during the period as against the target of 490 households (32% of target)

• Funded by DECC

Successful in reaching the fuel poor through a neighbourhood-based financial inclusion approach

NechellsBirmingham

Solihull

North Solihull

Engagement level with BST by ward in Birmingham and Solihull:

Reaching some of the most deprived people in England and Wales

• Birmingham – 46% of expressions of interest came from the most deprived 10% of places

• Solihull – 21% of expressions of interest came from the most deprived 10% of places

• Overall – 51% of expressions of interest came from places below average for deprivation.

A strategic approach to community engagement

• Understanding that fuel poverty is a financial inclusion issue

• Recognising where people experiencing multiple deprivation go for help in their neighbourhood, and why

• Co-production of the project with a range of 17 organisations overall, who were paid

• In Nechells and in north Solihull, focus on Nechells Community First Network and Colebridge Trust as neighbourhood hubs and community gateways

Some other lessons

• The fuel poor tend to only check their bills when they are in crisis.

• We have developed a rudimentary ‘segmentation’ model to understand motivations and barriers to switching. Lack of confidence in the switching process is most widespread, not a lack of ‘trust’ in an abstract sense.

• The market is not yet ready for a sufficiently powerful collective group to be formed that can occupy the middle ground between consumer and supplier.

Some other lessons• People need to be able to access energy advice on a range of

subjects, all year round, rather than to be offered a short-term series of transactional interventions. This should include tariff advice using an enhanced social brokerage service.

• Organisations delivering financial services to the fuel poor are delivering energy advice anyway. Our job is to support and train them.

• What we have learned from this project is already influencing the delivery of other projects in Birmingham e.g. Stay Warm Stay Well, Community Energy Fit.

Thank you for listening

Phil Beardmore @philbeardmore