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Solutions

What to do when your customer is struggling to pay

To understand...How we determine the right solution for our customersWhat's the best course of action for themHow to ask questions around this in the right wayWhy It's important to do all of these things

Goals

Be sure to look out for him in this pack! You can pop him a click for a top tip!

The Guru is ready to take you through all the info you need to become an expert...

Click here for some recap questions!

Now you know what Ability to Pay is and how to identify and have a great conversation - you’re going to need to know what solution to offer your customer based on their affordability.

IMPORTANTDon’t offer a solution until you’ve fully understood your customers circumstances

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Recap

Customers with a terminal illness should be referred to A&V for extra support - while they are receiving treatment and we may be able to make a special award from the Energy Fund

If a customer can’t get online to use Paylink, we’ve got other ways they can create a budget and get it to us - Similarly, if a customer is just struggling to engage with our process (because of poor mental health or because English isn’t their first language, or because they have a chaotic home situation for example), A&V can help them to complete their budget or refer them to our service with Citizens Advice where they will get a more bespoke support package

Click the stars for some wise words from the guru about our principles!

Principles

We should say “no” to ongoing discretionary credit where a customer isn’t providing the information we’ve asked for - However, we have a duty to protect our very vulnerable customers which includes those who need to run medical equipment at home and those with a serious illness which would worsen if they were left without supply. For this reason, it’s really important to have an accurate understanding of medical conditions and any equipment in the property. These customers should be escalated to A&V because we should really be assessing whether a prepayment meter is safe for them.

We want to help our customers when we know it’s hard for them - the price of everything has increased and we know that energy prices are at their highest levels.

Will we ever say no to a customer asking for extra financial support? - Ideally, we want to help customers when they ask for it. But if a customer refuses or fails to provide the information we ask for, then we will decline them for extra financial support. We can’t provide financial support indefinitely, our aim is to rehabilitate customers so they can get back to a position where they’re paying for what they use and clearing any debt they have.

It’s the customer’s responsibility to ensure their budget is accurate - We will work with whatever information is presented to us and so if it shows the customer can afford to pay, then we will expect them to contribute to their energy costs. If the budget shows the customer has very low or no affordability, we will expect the customer to get independent debt advice from an FCA regulated debt advisor

We must have a budget before we will consider extra financial support - If a customer refuses to do this, then we cannot assess them for extra financial support and they will only be able to access our standard terms.

We determine who’s eligible for extra financial support by asking customers to provide us with evidence of their household income and spending - This has to be via our Paylink service or an FCA debt advice organisation. This is because we can be confident the correct information is being captured and there are agreed levels of spending that have been determined for different customer cohorts - e.g. single parents, families with children, living alone etc.

We can’t help everyone - We have nearly 6m customers and we simply can’t afford to reduce everyone’s payments, so we’re taking an approach that we feel is fair and this involves us helping those most in need. By this, we mean those customers who are really struggling to stay afloat and those customers with a medical need for electricity and/or warmth.

Lets look at the solutions you can offer without needing additional support

What should we do next?
How do we work this out?

What this looks like in kraken!

Customer can afford to pay for their ongoing energy plus their debt WITHIN 18 Months

Usage Amount

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Solution

What should we tell the customer?
How do we work this out?
What should we do next?

Customer can afford to pay for their ongoing energy with a 10% reduction - (the customer must not have a debt balance!)

Solution

Lets look at the scenarios where you’ll need to refer a customer to paylink rather than setting up a payment arrangement

Usage Amount

Extended PA

Customer can afford to pay for their ongoing energy and their debt BEYOND 18 monthsPLEASE DO NOT SET THIS UP OR CANCEL ANY DD ALREADY SET UP

Now you need to signpost your customer as follows:-

  • Explain to your customer that our usual terms are to collect any debt owed within 18 months, for us to set it up beyond this we’ll need them to engage with Paylink and create an income and expenditure budget. (Top tip - link to paylink e-learning and wiki for more info)
  • The customer will need to complete the paylink within 7 days and then within 2-3 days a specialist team will contact them to discuss further.
  • Depending on their budget we may require them to seek further debt advice
  • It’s important your customer engages with Paylink because without a payment plan set up they will continue through the debt collection journey
  • Do they already have a SMART METER? If not discuss as this may help reduce energy through better awareness and budgeting
  • Give energy efficiency advice
ADD THE ‘PAYLINK’ CAMPAIGN TO THE ACCOUNT

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Usage Amount

Usage Only

Customer can afford to pay for their ongoing energy BUT NOTHING TOWARDS THEIR DEBT PLEASE DO NOT SET THIS UP OR CANCEL ANY DD ALREADY SET UP

Now you need to signpost your customer as follows:-

  • Explain to your customer that our usual terms are to collect any debt owed within 18 months, for us to set up a payment for consumption only, we’ll need them to engage with Paylink and create an income and expenditure budget. (Top tip - link to paylink e-learning and wiki for more info)
  • The customer will need to complete the paylink within 7 days and then within 2-3 days a specialist team will contact them to discuss further.
  • Depending on their budget we may require them to seek further debt advice
  • It’s important your customer engages with Paylink because without a payment plan set up they will continue through the debt collection journey
  • Do they already have a SMART METER? If not discuss as this may help reduce energy through better awareness and budgeting
  • Give energy efficiency advice
ADD THE ‘PAYLINK’ CAMPAIGN TO THE ACCOUNT

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Usage Amount

Below Consumption

Customer can afford to pay something but it is less than the 10% reduction we can agree to.PLEASE DO NOT SET THIS UP OR CANCEL ANY DD ALREADY SET UP

Now you need to signpost your customer as follows:-

  • Explain to your customer because they cannot cover their ongoing energy, we’ll need them to engage with Paylink and create an income and expenditure budget. (Top tip - link to paylink e-learning and wiki for more info)
  • The customer will need to complete the paylink within 7 days and then within 2-3 days a specialist team will contact them to discuss further.
  • Depending on their budget we may require them to seek further debt advice
  • It’s important your customer engages with Paylink because without a payment plan set up they may fall into debt and will go through the debt collection journey
  • Do they already have a SMART METER? If not discuss as this may help reduce energy through better awareness and budgeting
  • Give energy efficiency advice
ADD THE ‘PAYLINK’ CAMPAIGN TO THE ACCOUNT

Use the guru...

Usage Amount

Can't pay anything

Customer cannot afford to pay anything towards any debt balance or their ongoing energyPLEASE DO NOT CANCEL ANY DD ALREADY SET UP

Now you need to signpost your customer as follows:-

  • Explain to your customer because they cannot cover their ongoing energy, we’ll need them to engage with Paylink and create an income and expenditure budget. (Top tip - link to paylink e-learning and wiki for more info)
  • The customer will need to complete the paylink within 7 days and then within 2-3 days a specialist team will contact them to discuss further.
  • Depending on their budget we may require them to seek further debt advice
  • It’s important your customer engages with Paylink because without a payment plan set up they may fall into debt and will go through the debt collection journey
  • Do they already have a SMART METER? If not discuss as this may help reduce energy through better awareness and budgeting
  • Give energy efficiency advice
ADD THE ‘PAYLINK’ CAMPAIGN TO THE ACCOUNT

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No Debt

Customer can afford Usage + Debt within 18 Months

Set up arrangement - Usage & DebtSet consequences

18 Months

Customer can afford to pay anything.

Customer can afford less than 90% of their usage.

Customer can only afford their usage.

Customer can afford Usage + Debt over a longer period of 18 months.

Customer can afford 90% of usage. This customer has NO DEBT.

Signpost to Paylink

Signpost to Paylink

Signpost to Paylink

Signpost to Paylink

Set up arrangement - Usage less 10%Set consequences Signpost if applicable

Can't pay anything

Below Consumption

Usage Only

Extended PA

10% Reduction

Overview...

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Please close the tab!

You've Finished!

Remember to confirm:Give energy efficiency advice - this is how we expect the 10% to be recoveredDo they already have a SMART METER? If not discuss as this may help reduce energy through better awareness and budgetingAs this is less than their ongoing energy, if they do not make any reduction in their usage - they will most likely build a debt up.After 3 months, we will look to increase their payments to cover their ongoing energy and any debt they have built up.If your customer feels this won’t be achievable then you should be referring them to Paylink

Discuss and confirm what they're paying towards debt Discuss and confirm when their debt will be paid offLet your customer know that if they do not stick to this payment plan, they will be followed up in our debt collection process and we may look to install a pre-payment/payg meter and their credit file may be impactedIf they use more or less energy, this may mean we need to review the arrangement as the debt may no longer be paid off within 18 monthsIf their circumstances do change significantly then they need to get in contact and let us know so we can support them Do they already have a SMART METER? If not discuss as this may help reduce energy through better awareness and budgeting

Usage Amount - £275 Debt Amount - £0.00 Affordability Time Period - N/A Debt Payment - £0.00 10% of Usage - £27.50 Total Arrangement - £247.50

If a customer has no debt with us and they're telling us they're struggling to payWe can offer a 10% reduction. If we offer this, we MUST set out clear expectations and consequences of a customer not covering their full usage amount The customer MUST be aware of the energy efficiency advice we offer and they must look try and either reduce their usage or increase their payments over the following 3 months.

Usage Amount - £275 Debt Amount - £1,250 Affordability Time Period - 12 Months Debt Payment - £104.16 Total Arrangement - £379.16

Understand why your customer needs a reduction in payments or can't afford the debt owed, is it temporary credit on their pre-pay meter? Are the customer’s affordability Issues short or long term? Are they behind on any other priority bills?Do they owe any other creditors?Are there any vulnerabilities we need to be aware of? Do they feel like the household income is lower than their outgoings?