A partnership of cross-industry experts driven by data experts Sagacity and Southern Water has found that on average, over a fifth of pensioners in ‘severe financial difficulty’ are not receiving the benefits they are eligible for.
The Water4All project is funded by Ofwat’s £200m innovation fund, and works out the financial affordability and benefit eligibility of households. This enables water companies to give even more proactive, targeted and tailored support to customers.
The innovation, which has now passed its initial pilot phase ahead of future funding discussions, could allow Southern Water to help customers who are not already receiving help via our bill discounts schemes.
In December, Southern Water announced it was boosting the minimum discount on bills offered to 104,000 households, from 20% to 45%, whilst adding another 21,000 households to that number, offering these customers at least an average annual saving of £200 on a dual service bill. The support will also continue to help customers that are in greater need, to access bill discounts of up to 90%.
The technology behind the project utilises a range of data sources, such as age, household composition and income, to determine whether a customer is eligible for support. So far it has focused on 300,000 anonymised household records to see if people are claiming available support.
For example, the model found 15,000 customers were potentially eligible for Pension Credit, but one in four didn’t claim it, and 63% were not claiming support with their water bills either.
This finding was important, as customers who receive Pension Credit would also be eligible for 45% off their Southern Water bills.
Rachel Ryan-Crisp, Head of Customer Services and Vulnerability Lead for Southern Water, said: “We are proud to be part of the consortium supporting Water4All and in taking a leading role to tackle this problem.
“With the cost-of-living spiralling, many people are struggling for the first time in their lives – and as we can see, not everybody knows help exists, or is comfortable claiming. While we do our very best to support all of our vulnerable and low income households, it is a challenge reaching everyone who is eligible for support. This is why this project has been so valuable in ensuring nobody is left behind.”
Anita Dougall, Co-Founder and CEO of Sagacity, added:
“In this daunting period, Water4All shines a beacon of hope. Working together, the industry can go way beyond meeting its regulatory obligations, making a real difference. We want to end fuel poverty, ensuring bills are affordable for all.
“Colouring outside the lines between suppliers will be particularly helpful when customers move house, or supplier. Any existing support they had in place will be flagged to their new suppliers, who can automatically apply it.
"We want to support Ofwat’s call for cross-sector collaboration, extending the project across the wider utilities industry. We’re excited about the prospect of water and energy suppliers joining forces, weaving all the threads together to ensure households receive as much assistance as possible.”