How we’re supporting vulnerable customers on our heat networks

As part of our E.ON Heat business, we supply heating, hot water and cooling via our district heating system to around 60,000 residential and business customers. We know that some of our most vulnerable customers struggle to pay their bills, which is why we have support available to help.

For our Heat customers, we set up our Heat Winter Support Payment scheme last year, to help some of our most vulnerable E.ON Heat customers clear their debts.

We’re so proud that our Heat Winter Support Scheme has now been shortlisted for the Best Customer Experience for Vulnerable Customers – Utilities Award, having supported more than 100 of our most vulnerable customers with financial support.

We spoke to Alice Purdy, Customer Service Manager in E.ON Heat, to find out more about the scheme and why we’ve been shortlisted for an award.

What is the Heat Winter Support Scheme?

We wanted to offer financial support to our customers who were most in need across the winter period when bills are at their highest and open up conversations to help customers stay on top of their bills instead of letting debt accumulate.

So we came up with the Heat Winter Support Scheme which offered eligible customers a one-off payment towards their debt, if they could pay their next three bills or estimated usage.

How did the scheme help customers?

So far, we’ve helped 129 customers by clearing almost £200,000 from their combined debt and we’ve already pledged to help a total of 186 customers with financial support, with a combined value of more than £275,000.

We wanted to get the most out of the scheme so once we had customers on the phone, we carried out additional checks to ensure the account was up to date with meter readings, billing was correct and set up payment arrangements and Direct Debits so customers could get in control of their account payments and manage their bills in smaller chunks.

We also identified vulnerable customers that might need extra support from us, then added them to our Priority Services Register so that they could benefit from extra support such as priority reconnection if their heat supply goes down and alternative heating facilities. We also used the scheme as an opportunity to offer more holistic support, to ensure that we were supporting our customers as best we could, for example offering to:

• Move their meter to make it easier to reach for meter readings
• Set up password protection and an identity card scheme
• Send or copy bills to someone else, like a carer or relative, to help them stay on top of things
• Receive bills in braille or large print for those who are visually impaired and set up Minicom or telephone facilities for those who are hearing impaired.

Finally, we further helped customers by offering referrals to our partner IncomeMax, who offer a free, confidential money advice service, so that they could check whether they’re getting all the benefits and grants they were entitled to.

Have you received any customer feedback following the scheme?

Our customers are at the heart of what we do so I’m glad that we’ve been able to support some of them during challenging financial times and it’s heartwarming to hear from how some of our customers have benefitted from the scheme.

“Thank you, you’ve changed mine and my family’s life.”

“You have given me the chance to take control of my finances and start again, I have wanted to get on my feet, but it is so difficult, all I can say is thank you so much.”

“I can now not dread a bill landing, instead I know I am in control of this bill and gave me the confidence to address other ones.”

And Michelle Matchett, one of the advisors who worked hard to make the scheme a success said: “The process has been a real emotional rollercoaster, I've laughed and cried along with our customers who have gone through this process, but most importantly I feel we have built a relationship of trust between us the credit team and our customers. I know that the customers we have worked with would have no hesitation in reaching out for support again, and that makes me smile and feel very proud of the work we have done.”

How would you summarise the scheme and its impact?

The Heat Winter Support Scheme has been a fantastic success and I’m proud that we’ve been able to do this for our customers. It’s great to be shortlisted for the Best Customer Experience for Vulnerable Customers Award in the utilities category and to have our efforts recognised as we hope to be able to continue to offer support like this to our customers in the future.

Separately, E.ON Next offers support to customers who are struggling to pay for their energy in a numbers of ways, including financial assistance and the E.ON Next Energy Fund.

Finally, for those that don’t know, what is a district heating system?

District heating systems, also known as heat networks, use the warmth from buildings and cities, turning what we already have into a solution for cutting down emissions. By heating our buildings this way, district heating not only makes strides in efficiency, but also helps towards decarbonisation efforts and improves public health.