Glenn Allan, head of Product at Capita, looks at how the power of data can give providers a fast, affordable and effective solution that can help them reduce the risk of fuel poverty
Fuel poverty is fast becoming a major issue across Britain. With global wholesale energy prices soaring, leading to April’s £693 or 54% rise in the energy price cap, those on lower incomes are finding it increasingly hard to cope.
According to the BEIS’ 2022 Annual fuel poverty statistics report, around 13% of households in England (over 3 million) in 2020 were classed as living in fuel poverty, meaning they have been pushed into poverty because of the costs of meeting their basic need to keep warm. This is almost 25% in Scotland, 12% in Wales and around 18% in Northern Ireland.
Though the chancellor has announced further help with energy bills via a windfall tax on energy companies, this only serves to partially mitigate a further rise in the price cap in October with many people still struggling to afford power and heat in the immediate term.
One of the more vulnerable groups facing this escalating problem are social housing tenants; a significant proportion of whom are low-income households and therefore most exposed to rising prices.
“Collating different datasets and analysing them together can bring multiple benefits to providers, including to help tackle fuel poverty”
Providers are stepping up to give as much support as they can, including the increasing of crisis support funding, offering fuel vouchers and advice sessions for those who are finding it had to cope, but as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, the challenges will only become more acute.
With providers wanting to go much further in helping their residents, many are looking hard at how they can improve the wider capabilities of their operations and ensure their software systems are optimal, meaning they can ramp up support before we head into the colder weather of the autumn and winter.
One key to maximising limited resources is the efficient collation and use of data, which is why Capita has developed a housing management system which brings the appropriate datasets into one clear and simple dashboard.
Often, information about tenants and the make up of their home are held in silos but collating these different datasets and analysing them together can bring multiple benefits to providers, including to help tackle fuel poverty.
For example, by bringing together a resident’s energy consumption data with the energy performance of their same property – something our system has the potential to deliver via third-party smart meter data – providers can gain valuable insights into that home.
It might, for example, show that a resident has high energy bills at the same time as living in a house categorised with an EPC rating of band ‘C’ or above, making it energy efficient.
By delving deeper into the data, our software can look at the reasons behind the difference to see whether the property is being heated properly or whether there is anything wrong structurally with the building, for example. This can then enable the provider to give targeted support to their residents who are most at risk of fuel poverty.
Data on energy improvements to the building can also be analysed – something that will become increasingly important as retrofitting scales up – down to the light bulbs, insulation, windows and heating systems.
By bringing all this information together into one dashboard, this system can draw a much more detailed picture than what has been available before on a resident, which again gives providers the tools to safeguard the welfare and safety of their residents, so no one slips through the cracks.
The energy crisis is not going away, and price inflation looks ever more serious. This is why we believe the power of data, coupled with the system to back it up, will give providers a fast, affordable and effective solution that can help them reduce the risk of fuel poverty.
- Find out more about our housing software solutions here
Housing Digital Stakeholder Capita is a consulting and digital services business that helps organisations transform and simplify their services to deliver better experiences for the communities and people that they serve.
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