Citizens Advice response to Ofgem’s Consultation to Review the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme
Citizens Advice has statutory responsibilities to represent the interests of energy
consumers in Great Britain and provides both statutory and non-statutory advice
services to energy consumers. As such, we welcome the opportunity to respond to the
consultation to Review the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.
Overall, we think that the Energy Redress Scheme is working well, meeting the current
objectives of the scheme and agree with the funding split proposed in the
consultation.
Given the ongoing financial difficulties that low-income consumers are likely to face as
a result of the coronavirus pandemic, we think there is likely to continue to be an
elevated consumer need for financial support this winter. Therefore, we think that the
fuel voucher scheme should be extended with support targeted at prepayment meter
consumers as they continue to be at risk of self-disconnection and self-rationing.
However, we also noted that the objectives of the Redress Scheme mean that
generally smaller funding amounts are provided to smaller charities and
organisations. This is a particularly pressing issue in relation to the fuel voucher
found, where it can lead to a poor consumer journey for people accessing emergency
support. We think that fuel vouchers should be distributed through a centralised
provider that has experience of providing fuel vouchers and other support because
this would result in a simplified consumer journey and access to support regardless of
location.