Data sharing to support vulnerable customers

The background

• To provide tailored support for vulnerable customers, energy suppliers need to know about their individual circumstances. To improve this, energy suppliers have been working across sectors to improve the customer journey, moving towards a ‘tell it once’ Priority Services Register (PSR) through improved data sharing.
• For energy suppliers, data on vulnerability is crucial when providing the best support for their vulnerable customers. This can be through existing datasets from institutions such as the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), or the National Health Service (NHS), or energy suppliers sharing their own datasets with other essential services (such as the water industry).

The challenge

• There are limits on the capacity of essential service providers (such as energy suppliers) to collect the data necessary to meet their obligations. Government data will enable support to be better targeted – this should be a priority for the new Government.
• Data sharing comes with challenges, which include ensuring all parties use the same legal basis to handle vulnerability data and addressing privacy concerns.
• An industry-wide system that enables an efficient and consistent approach to data sharing across England and Wales needs coordination of different sectors. This will ensure a joined-up holistic approach that ultimately improves outcomes for vulnerable customers.
• Building customer trust is essential for encouraging customers to share their data. Transparency around the use of data and strong data protection measures are crucial for building the trust needed to improve utilisation of data for public benefit.

What’s the solution?

• The next Government should look urgently to set up a cross-Whitehall project to develop data access and data matching. This will enable targeting of future bill support to those who need it most.
• The previous Government recently consulted on the possibility of a multi-sector shared PSR, committing to creating a ‘Share Once Support Register’ that merges the current PSR with equivalent telecoms registers. To maximise the full potential of data sharing, Energy UK believes that incorporating data from government sources, such as the DWP and NHS, should be a priority for the next Government.
• Matching against these data sets would allow for the Government to efficiently roll out targeted support to households who need it most through the energy bill. This would facilitate the overall aim of ensuring everyone has access to reliable and affordable energy.