Helping customers through energy price changes now and for the future
With the price cap increasing this month, here are some of the ways we're supporting both our customers and UK new energy as a whole.
Ofgem is raising the price cap by 6.4% this month, bringing the average energy bill for households in Great Britain to £1,849 a year. This is owing to a slump in the amount of gas being stored in reserve in Europe, and will have an immediate impact on the nearly 9 million British households currently on variable tariffs, hitting those on fixed plans later.
With the effect this will have on already struggling families and more volatility potentially on the horizon, it’s essential that government, regulators, and energy suppliers take action to support vulnerable consumers now, as well as ensuring they’re protected from future shocks. Here are some of the ways we’re working to do just that.
Helping energy customers today
The most important thing we as an energy supplier can do is make sure our most vulnerable customers have the support they need to heat and power their homes all year round. That’s why we not only help people through existing schemes, but are constantly innovating new ways to keep their bills down. We’re proud to provide help through the E.ON Next Energy Fund, the Warm Home Discount Scheme, the Priority Services Register, and wellbeing checks for people who are potentially at risk, and we also see opportunities to help vulnerable consumers with more long-term, self-sustaining solutions.
To give an example, in Coventry we are currently running a pilot to install batteries in people’s homes at no upfront cost. This may not seem an intuitively sustainable approach, but the economics are surprisingly simple: with an average domestic battery installation costing roughly £3,000, savings from using one sitting at around £300 a year, and a 20-year average lifespan, a scheme like this could not only pay for itself, but provide potentially better and more efficient financial assistance to households in need.
Crucially, we’re also developing and offering tariffs and plans that can provide help for customers who need it most, for instance with the E.ON Next Pledge Tariff – a 12-month fixed term tracker tariff with variable rates that are always lower in comparison to the Ofgem Price Cap.
Innovating long-term sustainability solutions
Craig Lowrey, a principal consultant at leading energy market forecaster Cornwall Insights, told the Guardian newspaper in a recent article about price rises that: “It might be tempting to look at rising bills and conclude that the push towards renewables is not working, and we should scale back on the transition. But the reality is higher energy costs only reinforce the need to accelerate our expansion of clean, reliable energy across the UK.”
By supporting new and existing renewable projects while innovating novel ways of making sustainable energy work for the UK, we can insulate the country from future price shocks and protect those vulnerable customers who often bear the greatest share of the burden.
Thanks to the power purchase agreements (PPAs) we hold with dozens of wind generators across the country, we are helping to secure capital and confidence for renewable energy projects now and in the future, while at the same time pioneering more decentralised and innovative approaches to sustainable energy. By developing the UK’s first pilot Energy Sharing Community, for instance, we are working to advance a model of decentralised energy production that would help public buildings and businesses generate power through rooftop solar while raising additional revenue by selling any surplus, unlocking the UK’s solar potential and building energy security for the years to come.
We’re also working to make sure the country takes full advantage of the renewable assets it already has, notably by working towards more and better long-duration storage to guarantee a supply of stored clean energy is available even when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining. For example, we are currently investing in two 230-megawatt long-duration battery storage facilities at the site of the former Uskmouth coal-fired power station in Newport, South Wales, helping the entire country become more energy-flexible and secure for the future.
There is a real risk with price cap rises that some of the country’s most vulnerable people could get left behind. To stop that from happening, we hope government and regulators will consider expanding current measures and working towards more flexible, socialised tariffs that might take the brunt off those who need it, but also that they will help us to extend some of our innovative work with battery storage and energy sharing to a greater number of people through more green financing and collaboration.
Whatever happens, we’ll keep working, innovating, and lending support to both our customers and the green transition, because it’s on us to make new energy work.
To learn more about our work supporting both customers and new energy, take a look at some of our other blogs:
Helping vulnerable customers in Coventry with home energy upgrades
How Energy Sharing Communities could help protect the UK from cyber-attacks