Who is most likely to struggle with energy affordability and fuel debt issues?

A range of vulnerabilities put people at greater risk of debt and affordability challenges, including digital exclusion, disability, mental health issues, and low income. However, many of our partner organisations are witnessing new client groups presenting with debt issues who would not typically have presented with these issues before, including dual-income households and those who own their own homes.

National Energy Action stakeholders and advisers report that debt is now often complex and multifaceted, and that clients are presenting with multiple types of debt, or a “package of debt”, which adds to the difficulty of providing support.

'With the debt situation, it’s not just energy debt. I think the knock-on effect is that the debts are a lot bigger, energy is just the tip of the iceberg…the debt problem is massive...rent, council tax arrears…'(National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forum attendee, April 2024)

'They’ll come to us for energy debt and we’ll ask about other things. Then you do the exploration and you realise they’ve got five or six different debts, all in triple figures.' (National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forum attendee, April 2024)

Layla’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

After splitting up with her partner, Layla moved into a privately rented home with her young children. She suffered from mental ill health and fibromyalgia. While struggling to survive on an income of less than £16,000 a year, she was also still repaying debt from her previous property for both energy and water and was receiving some assistance from another organisation to help with other debts. 

Multiple debts

Layla was struggling to afford to top up her energy at her new home due to the cost of moving and the debt she was already paying off. When a National Energy Action energy adviser spoke to her, Layla disclosed that both her meters were on the last of her emergency credit.  She was having to ration food for herself and her children. With only a few pounds in her purse, she told her adviser: 'I could only give my children half a bag of crisps for supper. I had nothing for most of the day.'

How we helped

Layla was provided with an air fryer, £280 worth of supermarket vouchers, a coat, wellies for one of her children and a Winter Warmth Support Pack. Layla was also provided with £147 in energy vouchers to help with her immediate energy needs. 

Crisis returns

A few months after receiving support, Layla got back in touch with her adviser. There was no gas in her home because she needed to prioritise buying new school shoes for one of her children. 

Further support

Her adviser supported Layla to register on the Priority Services Register with her energy supplier and helped her to set up a debt repayment plan for her water debt. Jessica supported Layla to save £241 through water tariff savings per year and provided Layla with £147 in energy vouchers to cover her immediate energy needs. 

National Energy Action and our stakeholders have highlighted disability as a key vulnerability to experiencing debt and affordability issues, due to a potential for higher consumption needs alongside a greater risk of being in a low-income household. Disabled clients report rationing their use of electric medical equipment due to fuel debt.

'If you’ve got an electric cooker, you’ve got a hoist, you’ve got carers that come in, that energy… Just their consumption can be £600 or £700 a month and, even if they are working and they can go out to work or they’re on maximum PIP for mobility and care… They’re never going to have that option of being able to comfortably afford that. The amount of people that we speak to that are having to turn off medical equipment, or they’ve got an electric wheelchair and they used to go to three different groups in a week but actually now they can only go to one, and that knock-on effect that it’s having for their mental health. Those same customers are ringing us, or other support lines, with real concerns about harming themselves.'(fuel poverty forum attendee, April 2024).

National Energy Action advisers, coming out of the winter 2024 period, raised the notion of a “debt loop” among our clients:

• Clients fall into debt, are unable to meet repayments, face threat of disconnection, and threat of prepayment meter (PPM). If PPMs are installed, the meter has debt on it, which leads to a range of other issues for clients and limits options available to them.
• Clients who are dependent on energy to power medical equipment or manage health conditions cannot avoid falling into debt.
• Debt write-off and financial relief act as sticking plasters – there is a support gap in enabling such households to access long-lasting and enduring help with their energy costs.
• Our advisers shared examples of high usage clients whose energy bill is half their entire non-housing income.

billing and metering practices

Standing charges 

National Energy Action and our stakeholders have expressed significant concerns around customers accruing standing charge debt, particularly among households with prepayment meters, who build debt even if they have self-disconnected or are rationing their energy consumption.

'I think with the prepayment debt … the issue we’ve had with suppliers is that they’ll move the debt to the back of the meter but they’ll only do it once for that client. So it means, you know, especially elderly people, who might not have the gas on all summer and might not always have the capacity to remember to keep topping up the standing charge, it’s been a major issue.'(National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forum attendee, 2024-25)

Jacob’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Jacob suffers from cancer and has a visual impairment. He moved into a new socially rented property a couple of years ago and inherited the previous tenant’s debt on the gas meter. Jacob found it incredibly difficult to pay this debt, and so the gas was capped. As a result, Jacob has had no normal access to hot water or heating for the past three years.

Debt build-up

When his gas was capped, Jacob had £430 worth of debt on the meter, including emergency credit. However, Jacob was also required to continue paying the standing charge on his capped gas meter over the three-year period, leading to a further build-up of debt.  Jacob used only electricity for three years, so he was faced with high electricity bills due to an overreliance on electric heaters and having to boil any hot water that he required.  

How we helped

A National Energy Action energy adviser began to negotiate on Jacob’s behalf with his energy supplier. Jacob’s energy supplier agreed the best method would be to load debt at the back of the meter which would be repayable over a weekly amount. This meant that an engineer was able to attend Jacob’s home to uncap the meter and his supply was reinstated. His adviser also enabled Jacob to access his supplier’s internal relief funding to clear his outstanding debt. He furthermore provided him with £98 in energy vouchers, issued him with a Winter Warmth Support Pack and added Jacob to his energy supplier’s Priority Services Register. 

Smart meter issues

Around half of the issues reported by National Energy Action staff within an internal issues log in 2024-25 related to smart meters. Issues were logged which involved clients’ smart meters and/or in-home displays not working correctly and causing affordability issues such as:

• smart meter errors, meaning clients could not top up (causing debt to build up)
• smart meter readings not automatically transmitting to the energy supplier, resulting in estimated or inaccurate billing.

Stakeholders at our National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forums also raised that smart meters were not equally available to all households, meaning that some householders were unable to benefit from the regular and accurate meter readings and billing that they can offer.

'Although smart meters are useful when they’re working, I think I’m very concerned we’re going to start discriminating people who can’t have smart meters. These tariffs that they’re bringing in, “Oh, you can have cheaper electric [on a flexible tariff]...Well if you haven’t got a smart meter you can’t have that, so we’re discriminating against these people. Quite often, these people are going to be vulnerable because they’re going to be either rural or they’re going to be possibly living in a flat or low income.'

The experiences of National Energy Action clients, and the advisers who have supported them, show that such issues with smart meter functionality and/or accessibility are often compounded by poor communication and customer service on the part of suppliers. Such practices put in place additional barriers to resolving affordability and debt issues for clients – many of whom are vulnerable – as well as increasing the pressures placed on the third sector organisations that support them.

Sarah’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Sarah is a 66-year-old woman who lives in social housing and has multiple long-term health conditions that are exacerbated by the cold (including asthma and a heart condition). She also suffers from diabetes. Sarah was living with existing debts and, after her rent was paid, she was left with minimal money to last her throughout the rest of the month. 

Smart meter issues

Sarah had a smart meter installed in December 2022 and was told that it had been recommissioned from credit to pre-payment mode. Unfortunately, this did not occur. This resulted in Sarah being unable to top up her meter and caused her debt to increase, building up to around £900. 

Poor customer service

Sarah tried to contact her supplier about this multiple times, however, she was often cut off or gave up after a long wait. One call handler told her to Google how to switch to prepayment mode, which was not particularly helpful for Sarah in her current situation. As a result of the lack of support, Sarah contacted National Energy Action’s advice line. Her adviser worked hard to find a solution. There were many communication difficulties, with Sarah being told different things by her supplier, none of which helped her to top up.  

The supplier sent links to enable Sarah’s smart meter to operate in prepayment mode. However, this did not work. Considerable time passed with no solution found – all while Sarah’s debt was accruing. This impacted her mental health, causing great anxiety. After several months, Sarah and her National Energy Action adviser were told that the smart meter was operating in credit mode and that it would not be possible for it to operate in prepayment mode.  

They were told by the supplier’s priority line that their team was set up in December 2022 but hadn’t been given permission to change the mode of smart meters. Sarah was faced with issues around different teams within the supplier not communicating with each other, as well as experiencing poor communication between herself and the teams that she did manage to speak to. The adviser was also told that he could not be transferred to other teams that may have been able to help. Such communication issues added to Sarah’s concerns, only worsening her anxiety and causing more stress. 

A resolution

Sarah’s adviser made multiple phone calls to her supplier over the span of five months, to get to the bottom of this issue. Eventually, a new meter was fitted, allowing Sarah to top up once again. Her National Energy Action adviser was able to help further by setting up a low-debt repayment plan. He also supported Sarah in securing a council tax rebate, energy bill rebate and enabled her to sign up to the Priority Services Register.  

 

Customer Service

The experience of National Energy Action and our stakeholders indicates that overcomplicated billing and communications from utility providers contribute to the debt challenges faced by customers.  

• Billing presentation is felt to be less easy to understand and more confusing.  
• Clients are receiving extremely difficult billing with complex calculations. 
• There is a need for accessible, easy to understand bills to be provided to customers. This might include simplified bills on the front page, with complex info saved for subsequent pages.  
• Bills are sent with no covering letters provided. 
• In general, customer service staff are felt to have a limited understanding of billing, but are often unable to speak directly with billing teams.  

National Energy Action advisers and stakeholders have reported that issues with estimated or inaccurate billing can exacerbate debt and affordability problems for some clients. Debt can be exacerbated by a client's lack of understanding of how to read a meter or provide a reading, being unable to carry out a reading themselves (e.g. in the case of physical disability or sensory impairment), or faulty meters.

'People will come to you and say, 'We managed to do a meter reading, and you owe £3,000.' It was therefore total lack of information and lack of efficiencies of the companies actually getting meters read or getting people to get correct readings that leads to debts suddenly going from people thinking, 'Maybe I might owe a bit' to being almost unmanageable for them.' (National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forum attendee)

Stakeholders attending our fuel poverty forums felt that more could be done to ensure that meter readings were taken at regular intervals to inform accurate billing, and that customers were supported with this.

'Billing doesn’t seem as clear as it was either. I think it’s [providers], they’ll only bill some customers once every six months. We’ve done things where we’ve applied for a grant because [provider] said someone had £900 worth of debt. We’ve got the grant and then a month later they go, 'Oh, we’ve re-billed them, they’ve got more than £900 worth of debt.' These are clients with smart meters, as well, so you can get the readings every half hour but a lot of suppliers aren’t using them. They’re using them twice a year, which is insane.'

Issues around accurate billing, estimated billing and empowering clients to see and monitor their energy usage yet again overlap with challenges created by poor customer service.

James’ story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

James lives alone in socially rented accommodation. Two years ago, James received a bill from his energy supplier, totalling £19,000 of energy debt. Since receiving this bill, James has been trying to gain answers from his energy supplier. This eventually led James to reach out for help from National Energy Action earlier this year. 

Inaccurate billing and poor communication

Before receiving the letter informing James of the energy debt, James received no prior notice of this debt from his supplier. While James was on a credit meter, no meter readings were submitted, there was no record of an opening meter read, and no reading was taken when James was switched to a prepayment meter. In addition, his housing association landlord did not have a record of the opening meter read prior to James moving in. 

For the past two years, James has been searching for answers from his energy supplier. James was unaware of how this debt had accumulated but when he reached out to his energy supplier for support, he was informed on numerous occasions that he would receive a callback to discuss the matter further. However, James did not receive any callbacks and when he asked his energy supplier to provide historic statements, these were not provided. 

James was switched onto a prepayment meter two years ago. However, this switch was never discussed, and James was only told by his energy supplier, this was happening as 'par the course'.

The impact on James

The debt and the length it has taken to resolve this issue with James’ energy supplier has created extreme worry and stress. This has been exacerbated by the lack of response James has received from his energy supplier over the past two years. James decided to reach out to National Energy Action earlier this year.

How we helped

An adviser at National Energy Action started negotiating on James’ behalf with his energy supplier to resolve the complaint. His adviser began patiently but persistently making phone calls each week looking for progress on James’ case. In addition, to support James’s immediate energy needs, James received £147 energy vouchers and a Winter Warmth Support Pack. 

James’ supplier has now acknowledged the £19,000 as fictitious debt and this has been written off entirely. James’ energy supplier admitted that his debt had likely occurred due to misread meter readings from the old, removed meter. There had been two meters previously removed from James’ property, and this could have resulted in 'twisted readings'.

Amy’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Amy is a 41-year-old woman who lives with her teenage daughter. She has multiple long-term health conditions, including a brain tumour and mental ill health. Her daughter also has mental health issues. She receives universal credit and was in the process of getting support to apply for PIP.  

In December 2023, Amy moved into a social housing property which had smart meters. Amy was very anxious about ringing her new supplier. National Energy Action supported her by helping to set up her account and providing energy top-up vouchers. Her supplier sent her top-up barcodes by text so that she could top up this way and finally have heating. The adviser also supported her with registering for the Priority Services Register. 

Inaccessible meters and poor customer service

Amy began to have trouble with the balance on her account. Credit was not showing on her online account or app.  As there was no In-Home Display (IHD) at the property, this prevented her from knowing how much credit was on her account. She struggled to get this information from the meter, which she had to use a step ladder to access. Amy was under a lot of pressure at the time following the house move, and she found the process of having to get up to the top of a step ladder every time she needed to check her balance extremely frustrating. 

National Energy Action supported Amy with a three-way call to her supplier. During this initial call, the call handler raised a ticket for the tech team as the issue couldn’t be solved remotely, resulting in an engineer visit appointment also being booked. Unfortunately, the supplier was unable to provide an IHD as they were having a system-wide issue of IHDs not working due to a wider upgrade taking place. Communication issues then arose with the supplier, with Amy being told that appointments would be sent only for no appointment dates to be received. 

During this time, Amy was still unable to check how much credit was left on her meter without climbing the step ladder. At times, it meant that she had no gas or electricity in her home as a result. The situation dragged on for five months. On multiple occasions, her supplier did not follow up on communications and appointments were not honoured.

Reaching a resolution

By May, there was still no end in sight, and the National Energy Action adviser escalated the case. This led to an engineer coming out in June who was able to change Amy’s meters, enabling her to keep a check on her energy much more easily and regularly. The adviser reported that Amy was 'over the moon with the outcome'.

Communication issues

Issues have been logged by National Energy staff that detail poor communication from suppliers, often resulting in a lack of follow-up calls or information (accounting for around a third of the issues that are reported). This results in clients being left without the ability to top up, impacting debt levels, as well as their ability to keep their home warm. Such delays had a large impact on clients’ mental wellbeing – especially when these clients are already vulnerable. They also often resulted in vulnerable clients relying on unsafe methods to check their meters while waiting (such as climbing up a ladder or using steps). Other issues involved suppliers not providing explanations for their actions; internal issues, such as teams not communicating or being unable to transfer advisers to other teams; and PSR clients not being supported adequately. 

Thirty-five percent of reported issues related to suppliers being unable and/or unwilling to help clients with their issues, causing clients distress and advisers difficulty in attempting to find solutions. Advisers also often reported facing unfriendly call handlers when trying to access support for clients. This resulted in clients not receiving timely support – as well as increased time spent and cost accrued by National Energy Action through repeated calls and emails to suppliers. 

Luke's story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Luke, a single parent receiving Universal Credit, lives on an income of less than £8,000 a year. He suffers from anxiety, depression, and diabetes. After separating from his partner, Luke moved into a new property with prepayment meters in February 2019. Due to self-disconnection and affordability issues, his meters were switched to smart credit in January 2020. However, issues with the smart meter led to another switch to prepayment meters in September 2020, with debt repayment deductions starting each time he topped up.

Mystery debt and unclear communication

In May 2022, Luke's prepayment meters were exchanged again, revealing the debt had only just been added. Despite topping up regularly, Luke faced high collection rates, affecting his ability to heat his home and worsening his mental health. He took his case to the Ombudsman.

Luke's supplier calculated his gas debt to be £220 in October 2022, despite topping up with vouchers from National Energy Action. High meter collection rates led to unaffordable top-ups, and Luke frequently disconnected his gas. He suffered chest pains and anxiety, borrowing money from family to cover costs.

In January 2023, Luke was sent home from his new job due to stress and high blood pressure. His National Energy Action adviser sought a resolution with his supplier, but requests for full payment history were unfulfilled. Eventually, a sympathetic customer service adviser provided a breakdown of the debt, confirming the original amounts.

Reaching a resolution

Luke's supplier offered compensation, but Luke initially refused without a full statement. He later agreed to the resolution. National Energy Action cleared his remaining debt through an internal hardship fund, providing energy vouchers to ensure heating during winter.

32% of logged issues by National Energy Action staff over winter 2024 detailed suppliers providing incorrect information to clients (for example, suggesting that a client is in debt and threatening further action when they are actually in credit). Advisers also described conflicting information being given to clients depending on who they are speaking to. Other issues involved information or agreements changing in the middle of contacts, and a lack of flexibility or willingness to help clients with issues. Reports were logged which involved poor communication and/or a lack of follow-up from suppliers – often leading to integral support not being provided as a result. Difficulties finding information on tariffs were mentioned in multiple logs.

Thomas’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Thomas is over 65, and together with his wife, owns his own home. They live on an income of less than £12,000 a year. Thomas suffers from long-term illness, and is a carer for his wife, who suffers from dementia and Parkinson's disease. He was referred to National Energy Action after a gas leak was detected from his boiler. While receiving support from a National Energy Action energy adviser, Thomas disclosed he was in arrears on his gas account by over £2,700.

Incorrect information and inappropriate communication

Thomas was informed by a customer service adviser from his energy supplier that he should wait until his smart meter was fitted before paying his gas bills, which up to then had been estimated.  

The smart meter wasn’t fitted into Thomas’ property until two years later. Each time the engineer visited his home to install the meter, the work did not go ahead. As a result of the advice from the customer service adviser, Thomas had developed arrears of over £2,700 and did not take any meter readings over the two-year period. 

How we helped

Thomas had received advice of an inappropriate nature from his energy supplier. He had also waited for two years after requesting a smart meter before it was installed. Because of this, an energy adviser at National Energy Action raised a complaint on Thomas’ behalf with his energy supplier. 

His energy supplier maintained that Thomas would have received billing over the last 18 months of the amount owed and that, if he was provided with this advice, it was incorrect information. As a gesture of goodwill, they provided Thomas with £150, and a payment arrangement was agreed. 

However, following this agreement, Thomas noticed that his monthly direct debt had increased by nearly £25. When his adviser contacted Thomas’ energy supplier, they advised that this had been set up by someone as a mistake and this was subsequently cancelled. 

Thomas would have been unable to pay back the energy debt over the five-year period as per the agreed arrangement with his energy supplier. But, due to an internal National Energy Action fuel debt relief fund, the £2,700 debt has now been cleared. 

More than half of National Energy Action internal staff issues log entries last year mentioned difficulties contacting customer service – with long wait times and poor phone systems/processes. Many reports were made involving suppliers refusing to accept Authority to Act (A2A) forms or to carry out three and four-way phone calls. 

33% of the issues logged described challenges with supporting clients who do not speak English or require translation support. These issues involved suppliers not offering translation services or accepting the use of four-way phone calls, as well as challenges experienced by National Energy Action advisers when accessing Language Line. 

Stakeholders at our National Energy Action fuel poverty forums also raised concerns around a lack of consistently available adapted communications, for example, in plain English or easy-read English, for customers with English as a second language, or with sensory disabilities. This meant that some customers were not only unable to understand their bills, but also unable to communicate with their providers to raise issues or discuss concerns.

'We are actually collecting evidence at [council] at the moment, about energy companies not providing any second language, any other language things. And I think that’s really worth talking about, because we see all sorts of people who have just not been able to communicate with their energy companies… like with [provider] who told me ‘yes, we’ll ring them back, we have a service’. They never got a call, and we can never get to the bottom of it. So even if they claim to have something, it isn’t really used.' (Fuel Poverty Forum attendee, April 2024)

Hamza’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Hamza lives in local authority housing and has multiple health conditions, including, asthma, depression, mobility issues and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Hamza is medically dependent on electricity as he has been prescribed medication that requires refrigeration. Hamza requires a translator to access both written and spoken information.

Billing errors and fuel debt

His local authority housing provider had chosen his energy supplier for him, and he began to struggle with the affordability of his gas bill. Hamza was paying a £160 a month gas bill for his one-bedroom flat. He accumulated over £440 in fuel debt, which he could not afford to pay back. Hamza’s friend helped him to reach out for support from National Energy Action. 

A National Energy Action adviser contacted Hamza’s energy supplier, who confirmed the debt and advised them to contact Hamza’s housing provider who centrally sets tariff rates. Hamza’s adviser contacted the housing provider for further support, and they confirmed the metering at Hamza’s property was correct and his bill was being taken from consumption usage. However, the debt had largely arisen due to an administration error by Hamza’s energy supplier. There was a billing error which resulted in no bills being sent out between January 2023 and April 2023. The energy supplier then sent Hamza a catch-up bill in May 2023, resulting in five months of charges within one bill. 

Enabling accessible communication

Using the Language Line translation programme, the National Energy Action adviser corresponded with Hamza to provide all the details needed. In August 2023, while the adviser was trying to find a solution with his energy supplier and housing organisation, Hamza’s supplier threatened to cut off his electricity and gas, and began to demand repayment of the debt in full.  Hamza’s adviser had to contact both the energy supplier and housing association again, and ask for the energy supplier to cease sending bill demands until the situation was resolved.  

How we helped

Hamza was provided with a Winter Warmth Support Pack, and his adviser signed him up to the Priority Services Register. Hamza’s gas debt of £440 was cleared by an internal National Energy Action debt relief fund. Hamza was also sent a £98 energy voucher to support with his immediate electricity needs.  

Around 10% of logged complaints by National Energy Action staff April-June 2024 involved problems with the ability to make a complaint to suppliers and/or complaints not being handled correctly. Other issues logged in relation to poor service involved a lack of empathy and friendliness from call handlers, as well as information and/or records not being updated accurately. Advisers also reported difficulties contacting customer service – with long waiting times, and poor phone systems/processes. Many reports were made involving suppliers refusing to carry out three-way phone calls or speak to advisers despite them having third-party consent. 

Focus groups with National Energy Action delivery staff coming out of winter 2024 similarly highlighted how:

• Call wait time for suppliers are a major issue, priority lines are not consistent across suppliers. 
• Customer service can be extremely subjective and inconsistent.  
• Priority lines can be helpful, but anybody can be vulnerable at any time, so should be standard practice across frontline customer service teams. This is a training and culture issue within suppliers.  

Stakeholders attending our National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forums also highlighted that despite dedicated and direct channels of communication between their organisation and suppliers as a trusted intermediary, they still faced challenges in being able to contact suppliers to deal with clients’ issues. These included long delays between communications, long waiting times in attempting to contact suppliers over the phone, and inconsistent responses both between suppliers and also between individual advisers or different teams within the same supplier organisation, creating a ‘lottery’ of support.

'I had a lady who had prepayment and a credit meter, very vulnerable, in her 80s. This case has gone on for over a year and [supplier] and the ombudsman have been involved with it and it’s still hanging over. She’s been disconnected from both her gas and electric twice, so plummeting… No heating once, no electric once, it’s been horrendous and it’s been… I’ve rung them up and they’ve said, 'Oh no, she doesn’t have a prepayment meter.' 'But she does.' The arguments that I’ve had on the phone. I’ve said, 'Look, I just need to speak to somebody. I just need the electric on. Two different departments, can you not speak to each other?'

Stakeholders at our National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forums felt that better training of advice teams within supplier organisations was necessary, in order to improve understanding of vulnerability and to ensure more consistent support provision. Furthermore, many felt that suppliers could do more to listen to their organisations, which had a wealth of knowledge around customers’ needs, as well as to act upon this knowledge.

Reflecting on the winter 2024 period, National Energy Action staff noted how:

• Many vulnerable customers don’t reach out, and suppliers need to make their practices accessible and inclusive, e.g. taking steps to find out the reason for debt before pressuring customers for payment. Banking and water industries are areas we could learn from here.  

• Very often, there are significant reasons for a customer going into debt which are beyond their control. Chasing people in this situation will not result in repayment but will result in significant detriment to a customer who is already in a very vulnerable situation.  

Many National Energy Action stakeholders report problems with the current Priority Services Register (PSR) and ways in which they feel this could be improved. For example, one person felt that the current PSR was 'too generic' and did not fully consider the characteristics of the wider family or household. Several stakeholders highlighted that there should be some form of ‘joint PSR’ to ensure that data was transferred between suppliers and other organisations even after a client had potentially switched suppliers, for example, to ensure that data on vulnerability was not lost. Others discussed how water debt in particular would be a useful vulnerability flag, as it was often the first debt which many householders experienced before their problems deepened.

'I’m told that you’d stop paying the water first, and so if you had water bill missed payments and you could see that pattern, then you could have that early intervention, you’d know that before anybody got that knock on the door.'

Coming out of the winter 2024 period, National Energy Action staff highlighted that:

• The lack of good practice from suppliers increases our costs for helping individual clients 
• Third-party consent issues – delays, inefficiencies, and poor practice, even once the form has been signed, can limit our ability to support 
• PSR doesn’t always translate into a bespoke customer service for customers and National Energy Action often has to start a complaints process to oblige a supplier to act upon PSR information
• In many cases, the nature of a person's vulnerability means that they struggle to engage with suppliers - for example, those with mental health conditions, language barriers or those who are Deaf. Suppliers could do more to make themselves more accessible and proactively seek information about vulnerability and customer communication needs.  

Emma’s Story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Emma lives in a social housing property. She has multiple respiratory conditions, including asthma and COPD, which can be made worse by living in a cold home. Emma must be able to heat her home continuously to an appropriate temperature to protect her health. She also suffers from anxiety. 

Inaccurate billing

Emma was paying for her energy quarterly and tried to keep her home as warm as possible, due to her health condition. After the increases in energy prices, Emma found that she was struggling to pay for her energy. Emma also noticed that the amount that appeared on her meter seemed to be incorrect, but she was informed by her energy supplier that nothing was wrong. Within six months, Emma had accrued £1,200 of energy debt.  

'I kept querying it, I kept saying, “This is definitely wrong because I haven’t got my heating on, how the bills are coming in it’s like I’ve got it on constant 24/7,” but it wasn’t. Anyway, it escalated and escalated, and they kept saying there was nothing wrong and whatever.'

Inappropriate debt repayment practices

When Emma contacted her energy supplier, she felt pressured to agree to conversion of her smart credit meter to prepay mode. Her energy supplier did not offer Emma any other form of a debt repayment plan. Despite Emma already being registered on her supplier’s PSR, they failed to take her existing vulnerability into account and failed to conduct a safe and practicable assessment before placing Emma onto prepayment mode.  

'I was pushed on to going back to a pre-payment meter again. I originally was on quarterly and then my energy supplier forced me basically. I was saying to them, 'I can’t afford to pay back what you want from me.' They said the only other option would be to go on a pre-payment meter, I didn’t have any other options, so that ended up happening.'

In addition, Emma initially asked her energy supplier if she could be placed on Fuel Direct, but she was informed that due to the increase in fuel prices, they were unable to set up Fuel Direct payments as deductions would greatly reduce her Universal Credit payments. 

Emma’s energy supplier also advised her she would need to pass a credit check and pay back at least half of the outstanding debt on her account before her smart meter mode could be changed back to credit.

Remedial actions

An internal team within the supplier subsequently noted the PSR status of the client and raised the issue as a complaint, which was upheld. This meant the need for a credit check was dropped, and that Fuel Direct payments would need to be set up. 

'When you think, 'this is not right,' then they either pretend they don’t understand what you’re saying or they just try and fob you off and, 'No it is correct,' and whatever.'

What it meant for Emma

As a result of the high energy prices, Emma turned her radiators to the lowest settings in unoccupied rooms in her home to control her energy usage. Emma also rationed heating, prioritising keeping her home warm when her daughter or grandchildren visited and when they were not there, 'I tend to try and keep it off, sort of thing, just trying to cut back as much as possible.' Due to the difficulties Emma was experiencing, she often had to use food banks to cope: 'I was having to use food banks, which I still do here and there sort of thing, I seem to manage for about three weeks and then on the last week, I seem to struggle. So, yes, it has been a very big struggle.'

Emma’s difficulty with paying her energy bills and her energy debt had a profound impact on her mental health: 'Obviously I was trying not to put it on (heating), it was a fact of I’d go and get into bed. To be honest with you, because I do suffer with anxiety and that I do spend a lot of time in my bedroom anyway. So, my bedroom’s my safe haven, so it was just easier I suppose just to come up and get into bed. Then I just watch the telly. Sometimes I have the heating on and then obviously other times I couldn’t have it on, sort of thing. I would just try and cut back as much as possible.'

How we helped

Emma had received support from National Energy Action before, and decided to get back in touch with us for help with her energy. Her adviser sent Emma an energy voucher to help with her immediate energy needs and a Winter Warmth Support Pack. She also started negotiating with Emma’s energy supplier on Emma’s behalf. 

After months of negotiations, Emma has now been placed back on quarterly payments. She has had her gas debt cleared through grant funding, and now makes payments for her gas through Fuel Direct. However, as the prices remain high, Emma is still finding it difficult to manage her electricity payments.

National Energy Action and our stakeholders feel that current data held by suppliers should be used more effectively in order to better target debt support, for example, through using it to predict debt risk:

'They need to be more proactive in identifying who is likely to fall into debt. They need to look at the direct debits they’re setting up, like we were saying, and look at the projections. I know they can’t do it case by case but…'

Debt Collection

Alongside concern over growing amounts of debt and growing numbers of clients in debt, National Energy Action staff and stakeholders have raised concerns around recent changes to the ways in which debt is being collected. For example, with some suppliers focusing on collecting smaller debts over larger ones, potentially because these were more likely to be paid and require fewer resources and chasing to retrieve.

Rahul's story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Rahul lives alone in social housing with around-the-clock care due to muscular dystrophy. His health conditions require constant use of ventilators, nebulisers, cough assist devices, ceiling track hoists, electric doors, and a powered wheelchair, making him medically dependent on electricity.

Estimated billing and fuel debt

Rahul’s energy supplier read his meter in August 2022. After this point, Rahul’s energy bills were based on estimated billing. When his meters were eventually read again in February 2023, Rahul was sent a bill of over £1,770. One month later, in March 2023, his energy bill was just under £640. Rahul has no access to his meters as they are in an underground car park area. This requires his housing officer to read his meter for him, or his energy supplier, who sends an officer to read it every three months. His supplier tried to fit a smart meter in his property a few years ago, but were unable to due to connection issues.  

Inappropriate debt collection practices

In April 2023, Rahul received an email from his energy supplier declaring that if Rahul didn’t pay his bill, they would charge a £20 debt collection fee to his account and a debt collection agency would be appointed to recover the money owed. Rahul agreed with his energy supplier to make a monthly payment of £100, and that this would be the arrangement going forward. Only a week later, Rahul received another call from his energy supplier asking for the £100 payment, but Rahul informed them that this would have to wait until his benefits were paid.  

Three days later, Rahul received another call from his supplier stating that they would send a debt collection agency to recover the £100 and would be charging another £10 for the delay in paying the bill. They would also be adding £20 charge for a debt collection fee. This was causing enormous stress. The constant worrying was causing Rahul to have sleepless nights, making his health deteriorate further, and causing anxiety every time the phone rang. 

Accessing support

With the support of his National Energy Action adviser, Rahul applied to his supplier’s trust fund. But his application was rejected due to being unable to make the required repayments. Rahul was unable to pay his energy bill through direct debit as his benefit payments did not get paid on a set day every month. 

A call between Rahul’s energy supplier and his National Energy Action adviser resulted in the agreement that the payment arrangement of £100 a month would be in place for three months before it would be evaluated again. In late April 2023, Rahul received another call from his energy supplier that his repayment amount needed to be increased due to his financial statement. Rahul’s adviser contacted his energy supplier to confirm the £100 that had been agreed and that this was due to be reviewed in three months. 

A three-way call with Rahul’s supplier and his adviser in October 2023 confirmed that Rahul was eligible for the winter affordability scheme offered by his energy supplier. Rahul was referred to his supplier’s in-house Citizens Advice service. At this point, Rahul’s monthly consumption average was above £350. This was halved due to the winter support scheme. It was agreed that Rahul would pay nearly £180 per month until March 2024, and at that point his remaining debt would be cleared. Rahul’s debt stood at nearly £3,400. 

Ongoing energy unaffordability and the risk of debt

At the end of the winter support scheme, Rahul returned to his adviser to discuss options now that he had a clear balance. It was agreed that, moving forward, Rahul would continue to pay £200 a month and would need to complete a pay link every three months to continue with this arrangement with his energy supplier.  Rahul was still using a high amount of energy, however, and this was unlikely to change. Rahul and his adviser discussed tariff options with other energy suppliers and surmised that it would be the same issue but with a different supplier. At the same time, Rahul was also having to contend with his care provider closing down, losing half of his carers, and having to find a new care agency.  

In May, Rahul’s adviser applied, and Rahul was accepted onto National Energy Action’s Warm Home Prescription programme. This provides £1,000 to energy accounts for those on end-of-life care or who are medically dependent on energy.  

National Energy Action advisers and stakeholders have also raised concerns over what they perceive to be the increasing use of third-party debt collection agencies, even for smaller levels of debt than seen previously. Our stakeholders agree that this was an issue which should be given further attention, with a particularly close focus on the potential impacts upon customers in relation to mental health and wellbeing.

'They’re much more willing to sell your debt to a collection agency now. Pre-energy crisis you’d have like £2,000 or £3,000 of debt, ‘Oh, it’ll be fine, we’ll pay it off eventually.’ Now it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s £100, we’re going to send the lads round.’'(Fuel Poverty Forum attendee, April 2024).

Furthermore, National Energy Action stakeholders working in frontline advice agencies felt that they were no longer able to negotiate with suppliers on behalf of their customers to the extent that they could previously, with repayment amounts being minimally lowered when compared to previous years, and with spiralling levels of debt meaning that even reduced repayment amounts were still often unaffordable:

'Because, in the past, going into a property you could set up a payment plan there and then for them and it’d be fine. You could set it up over 12 or 24 months in the property, but now it’s so unaffordable for people that even energy companies are struggling to… You know, even over five years, sometimes people still can’t afford their usage and debt.' (Fuel Poverty Forum attendee, April 2024)

Alice’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Alice was of pensionable age (though not eligible for pension credit) and living in a housing association property. She was in ill health and didn’t have access to IT or the internet.  

She had inherited a prepayment meter (PPM) from the previous tenant of the property. She was struggling to afford her basic costs. Her financial struggles were such that she was looking to move to a cheaper housing association property. She was so worried about paying for her energy that she was using a torch to move around and between the rooms in her house, to save money.  Alice had been in touch with another organisation, which gave her National Energy Action’s details. She then reached out to us, looking for information and support. 

Metering issues

For two years, Alice had repeatedly requested that a credit meter be fitted in her home, which her energy supplier had repeatedly declined. On their first appointment, her adviser informed her of her rights to a credit meter. Alice was subsequently sent account details from her supplier. Alice neither understood nor agreed with the information that they had provided.  At the next appointment, they had a three-way call with her supplier to get more information. The call handler told them that there was debt on the account currently standing at £3,560.23. The total debt that had been migrated onto the account was £4,004.63. Alice knew nothing about this.  

Inappropriate debt collection and communication practices

Her adviser requested 48 months of account details and raised a complaint. Two years of account information was pledged. It turned out that Alice had been repaying the debt through her prepayment meter since 2021, and had so far repaid £444.40.  Throughout that time, Alice disclosed that she knew that something was wrong but had not received customer support from her supplier.  

Her supplier did not contact her adviser as promised but contacted Alice directly instead.  They rejected the idea that the migrated meter debt was £3,560.23, and stated they would remove £36. Her adviser sent a range of meter pictures over a period of months. However, the supplier’s debt screens don’t use decimal points (even though all their other meter screens do), so the actual amount was disputed for a long time.   

Her adviser asked another colleague for support in identifying the current amount owing on the meter screen. They confirmed that Alice had been paying £5 per week for over two years for a debt she didn’t owe. Her supplier requested a huge amount of evidence, including proof of tenancy. Alice’s housing manager supported her in providing that over email.   

Reaching a resolution

Her supplier finally accepted the debt amount, said that they would remove it and reimburse some of the debt that Alice had paid. However, this did not happen. After months of checking and chasing, her adviser suggested that a new meter may be the only way to action this effectively. The new meter was fitted, with the debt and weekly repayment rate correctly removed.  Her adviser requested that Alice be reimbursed for the full amount of erroneous debt payments made. After some negotiation, the supplier agreed to reimburse the correct debt payment sum. An additional £30 was offered as a gesture of goodwill. The supplier had wanted to add this reimbursement to the meter as a credit. However, her adviser requested several times that this be paid to the client by cheque. Alice was still waiting for this payment even after several months had passed.  

Engaging with support

There is a general sense of distrust of energy suppliers, which National Energy Action staff and stakeholders report contributes to a lack of uptake of support offered by suppliers to their customers. Stakeholder organisations play a crucial role as trusted intermediaries in ensuring engagement with support so that debt issues can be addressed earlier.

• 97% of our clients in 2024-25 were vulnerable in one or more ways
• 67% needed help with a problem that was too difficult for them to resolve on their own
• 62% needed the service to explain something that was hard for them to understand
• 66% needed help to communication with a company or organisation
• 67% had struggled to find help with their problem elsewhere

National Energy Action stakeholder organisations’ resources and capacity are stretched, and many staff feel overwhelmed. They report having had to ration the support they can provide or feel that they have exhausted their mechanisms of support. Many are having to make difficult decisions on a daily basis about who they can provide support to, with which issues, and in what ways.

Our stakeholders discuss a growing issue of people not engaging with available support provisions or only seeking support at a very late stage, meaning that their problems were much deeper, more complex, and often much more difficult to solve when they did eventually seek support.

Many National Energy Action stakeholders felt that people tended to ignore their debt problems until it was ‘too late’, only seeking support when in crisis. This was thought to be contributed to by the fact that many people were simply feeling overwhelmed by the growing cost of living, with many clients facing multiple types of debt and affordability issues. Other stakeholders noted that constant chasing by suppliers and other organisations, such as the DWP, had led to vulnerable clients disengaging altogether, allowing their debt to deepen and their problems to become more complex to solve.

'The more crisis you’re in, the less likely you are to actually ever follow that up. They’re the families and households that probably, actually, need all of this the most.' (National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forum attendee)

Lydia’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

I met Lydia at a local community centre. She was struggling with numerous issues in her life that mostly centred around her poor physical and mental health (which included anxiety, mobility issues and hypertension). She was unable to work because she was caring for her mother, which meant her income was quite low. 

Estimated billing and unaffordable costs

Over several months, she had been receiving bills for her gas that seemed impossibly high. We went through her gas account and saw that her supplier was requesting a payment of over £6,500, based on estimated readings. Her meter was in the basement of a block of flats and she was afraid to go down there for a number of reasons, particularly because it was full of large items that made it very difficult to negotiate a path to it. There were also several meters in there, and she didn’t feel that she could confidently identify which one was hers. 

The implications of inaccessible communication for a vulnerable client

The bill was so high that she decided to ignore calls from her supplier and not open any letters they would send to her. She was resisting putting her heating on due to the high bills, which meant that her flat was becoming damp and mouldy.  I went to the property to take meter readings and saw that her meter was displaying a reading that was 10,000 units less than her supplier had been estimating. Looking over her past bills, the worst example was when they estimated that she had used around £1,900 of gas in a single month. Meter readings were sent to her supplier, but they insisted on a further reading a month later to prove that they had been incorrectly billing her. A further visit and read of meter showed that she had used three units in a month. This was sent to her supplier and the bill was eventually corrected. 

How we helped

The outcome was that the arrears that had previously been £6,702 had now been reduced to £257. Lydia was assisted in paying this off, (which she was very happy to do) and then a direct debit was set up for monthly payments that she was confident she could manage. I was then able to arrange for her to have a smart meter installed, which meant she did not have go into her basement for her readings and could monitor them from the comfort of her flat. 

National Energy Action stakeholders report growing level of distrust of utility providers, leading many customers to disengage with early opportunities for support offered by their suppliers. As a result, it was felt that suppliers were not always aware of the true extent of their clients’ issues until a later stage, when providing support was more difficult. However, our stakeholders also felt that providers should be doing more to ensure that early intervention for customers at risk of debt was offered and taken up.

National Energy Action stakeholders raised the vital role of their organisations, particularly those in the voluntary and community sector or local authorities, in acting as trusted intermediaries and enabling and empowering customers to feel more confident in tackling their issues independently or seeking out support.

However, it was also felt that empowering customers alone, e.g. through referring them on to other services, was not sufficient. This is due to the fact that debt issues and vulnerability were not equally distributed, and that some were more able than others to access and take up the support offered to them.

'If somebody comes to you that’s in crisis for instance, just sometimes giving them that list of phone numbers isn’t enough because… Like for some of our customers, they might be in energy crisis, they might have five hospital appointments that week or they might have three different carers that are coming in to help care for their child. Well actually us just saying, 'There’re three different numbers, get on with it.', to me, is not enough. We need to be able to go that extra step.' (NEA Fuel Poverty Forum attendee)

Emily’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Emily lives alone in social housing. She has depression and arthritis. Emily also has dyslexia and struggles to read and write. Emily also uses a CPAP machine for sleep apnea and is therefore medically dependent on electricity.  

Emily’s arthritis is made worse by living in a cold home. Once the rent was paid, Emily was struggling to afford food and fuel. She was constantly worried about paying for her electricity due to her absolute requirement to be able to use her CPAP machine. Emily had sought help from National Energy Action before. When she was struggling with her financial situation and had no credit on her meters, she reached out again.   

Mental health-related barriers to engaging with support

Emily had outstanding debt, but did not know how much they amounted to. Her mental health issues meant that she could not bring herself to open the letters. Emily 'gave up' with previous debt advice services that she had been in contact with, as she struggled to provide all the documents they needed. 

How we helped

Emily’s National Energy Action adviser supported her in arranging a pay plan appointment for debt advice and made a referral into the appropriate team within her housing association. They also provided her with a food bank voucher and a £98 fuel voucher. Emily also received a Benefits Entitlement Check from a benefits adviser. 

Finally, Emily received £1,000 in credit being added to her energy account, through National Energy Action’s Warm Home Prescription programme. This provides crucial help to people who are on end-of-life care or who are medically dependent on electricity.  

The importance of income maximisation

There is an overwhelming sense among National Energy Action stakeholders that they and their organisations have exhausted their available support mechanisms, leading to frustration and worry for people working in frontline services. These discussions focused on the lack of available financial, staff, and time resources within stakeholder organisations, as well as the feelings of exhaustion and burnout among many staff who were left unable to solve their clients’ issues.

Some of our stakeholders felt that the growing issue of debt had contributed to this challenge. This is due to the additional vulnerabilities faced by many clients experiencing debt, the amount of debt which they were often presenting with, and the potential for multiple debts requiring contact with several organisations. This meant that much more time was being demanded by complex debt cases requiring more holistic assessments and support, taking away from organisations’ abilities to deal with other challenges.

'It means that your appointment with a customer is going to go from half an hour to an hour which means that that’s less people that you can reach. Again, it’s trying to find that balance for people.' (National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forum attendee)

Some National Energy Action stakeholders discussed their organisation having to make difficult decisions as to what support they were able to provide and to whom.

There is concern around the increasing proportion of clients presenting to stakeholder organisations with ‘negative budgets’. This often meant that previous solutions, such as a focus on income maximisation interventions, were simply no longer sufficient for tackling some clients’ debt or affordability issues. This was felt to be particularly true for clients on low incomes, in receipt of benefits, or those with disabilities which required greater levels of energy consumption, who may be facing debt on top of being unable to afford their usual consumption.

'I think the biggest problem that we’re seeing with customers, if they’re on a negative budget to start with they can’t actually even afford their consumption so how are they ever actually going to be able to clear and pay back debt?' (National Energy Action Fuel Poverty Forum attendee)

National Energy Action stakeholders also discussed how fuel and food vouchers were in huge demand among their services. These were felt to be crucial in reducing energy or food rationing, for example, but many argued that these only provided short-term solutions to complex financial problems, and there were often limits as to the frequency or amount of vouchers which clients could be provided with.

'I think families are prioritising what they’re spending money on, and I think energy is probably way down the bottom of their list. For all they’re thinking about it, their food and the other general basics are way higher than energy costs and then they’re just forgetting about their energy and then all of a sudden they’ve got…I mean we have a lot of people come in for vouchers… It’s the last thing but then, you know, they can’t cook, they can’t heat their homes… They’re desperate to get out of it and I’m just not sure how we get them out of it really.'

As a result, several National Energy Action stakeholders welcomed broader solutions. While some felt that supplier profits should be reinvested to clear debts, there was also a feeling that this would not be sufficient to tackle the problem longer term. Many of our stakeholders echoed calls for a social tariff for energy utilities to reduce demand on their own services while tackling the issue of negative budgets.

'I think the one thing that we are struggling with, especially in the customers that we speak to with not having a choice of whether they can cut down their uses on their energy, is that without a discounted tariff it’s not going to change. We can give somebody a fuel voucher. I can give one of my advisers an override code so that they can give that person, who should only have three in six months, twelve in six months but unless we actually solve the problem of making the energy cheaper or… People’s budgets just cannot…'

Many stakeholders also highlighted the crucial role played by government financial support, such as the cost-of-living payments, describing these as having provided a 'lifeline' for low-income households. Some highlighted that these payments had immediately preceded a noticeable drop in demand on their services for the short period after the payments, although this was short lived.

Every time there was a cost-of-living payment, across the food bank network…For the two weeks that the payment was made… Literally, it was really busy. Had those two weeks and then we went straight back up. It was, literally, a sticking plaster.'

Some National Energy Action stakeholders also highlighted issues with previous government support schemes. For example, one stakeholder noted that a ‘black market’ had evolved in their local area whereby Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) prepayment vouchers were being sold on for cash instead of being used to top up meters. Another highlighted that ‘lump sum’ payments were causing challenges for some of their clients who found it difficult to budget, suggesting that this type of support would be better if it was 'little and often' and more targeted, e.g. in the case of the EBSS payments rather than cost-of-living payments. One stakeholder noted that previous government schemes had not sufficiently solved the challenges faced by many, and that ‘bigger solutions’ were needed:

'It does feel like we need a big solution. We’ve been sticking plasters and tweaking around the edges and all the things that we’ve had over the past few years where it’s one scheme after another scheme after another scheme and it feels like we’re sat in… You know, at the drop of a hat, trying… You know, the government… Three weeks’ notice to put a Household Support Fund scheme together, to put a sticking plaster on. You know, reinventing the welfare support bit by bit, it’s just nonsense.'

Maria’s story: a National Energy Action case study

Background

Maria has a young son and lives in a privately rented home. She has an income of less than £12,000 a year. She suffers from depression. Last year, Maria not only lost her mum, but she also suffered multiple strokes. This affected her daily life, memory, and ability to deal with household and financial affairs. At the time, Maria’s dad acted on her behalf in receiving support from National Energy Action as Maria was struggling with 'everything, really, because I couldn’t even speak. So, my dad had to speak for me'.

Energy rationing

Maria was struggling to manage her finances and paying bills and 'at first, I couldn’t do anything for myself'. To keep warm in winter, Maria would use blankets as she couldn’t afford to keep her heating on. 

'It was quite hard, at first. I had to put covers on, and that, to keep my son warm. Because I couldn’t afford to have the heating on then, because I didn’t have much money.'

Maria’s struggles with affording her energy had a significant impact on her mental health. This was made worse when she was cold and compounded by the physical impacts of her stroke recovery.  

'I always felt cold, all the time. I couldn’t get warm at all.'

The difference made by benefits advice and support

Maria was referred to National Energy Action for benefits advice. A benefits adviser conducted a Benefits Entitlement Check, which included making claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit. Maria had tried to receive help with her finances before, but she 'never got anywhere' and had been unaware of the types of support that she could potentially claim.   

'Because what I didn’t know about, and I didn’t know I could claim it, my adviser told me all about everything I needed to claim, and she helped me do all that.'

The Universal Credit claim was successful, with Maria gaining nearly £5,000 per year, as well as £184.30 per week for PIP. Maria also received £3,000 in back pay. In addition, her adviser helped her to claim for Healthy Start Vouchers (worth £4.25 per week) and registered Maria on the Priority Services Register. 

Impact on health and wellbeing

 Maria is now feeling much better and able to manage her own affairs: 'I found it hard at first, but now I’ve got the PIP money I find it a lot easier now. At the minute, I feel comfy, if that makes sense.'

Maria’s mental and physical health have since improved, and she attributes this to the support she received from National Energy Action.  

'The help I received off National Energy Action, I couldn’t thank my adviser herself, and all the people involved, enough. Oh, it’s made a lot of difference. I couldn’t even begin to say how much difference it’s made, to myself and my son. Because without all you guys, I wouldn’t have known about anything.'

Maria now finds her bills more affordable and isn’t worried about her household and energy bills. However, Maria is conscious this might change in the winter when it gets cold again.