NEA’s response to Ofwat’s Payment, help and debt guidelines consultation, 2021

NEA is concerned about the record levels of debt and arrears in the market, recently reaching £2.6bn. This figure demonstrates that an increasing number of households are struggling to afford their ongoing costs of energy and are falling behind. With...

The transition to net zero in Wales will be crucial to ensuring homes are warm and safe, mitigating climate change, and to achieving Welsh fuel poverty targets.

The transition to zero carbon homes in Wales will be central to ensuring people are warm, healthy and safe. It will also help in Wales’s efforts to mitigate climate change and in achieving Welsh fuel poverty targets. This executive summary...

Water UK has announced the domestic water bill in England and Wales will rise by as much at 10.8% from 1st April.

NEA’s response to the BEIS Call for Evidence on the future of the energy market on a green gas levy.

NEA’s Response to the the Ofgem Statutory Consultation on short term changes to the price cap in April 2022.. NEA believes that the best option for fuel poor households is to “do nothing” and strongly disagrees with the proposals to...

NEA’s Response to the Ofgem Consultation on adapting the price cap methodology in the long term. NEA believes that Ofgem should investigate the viability of a parallel price cap for vulnerable households that has a lower cost base than the...

NEA broadly agrees with plans to phase out fossil heating, but BEIS must ensure that homes off the gas grid receive adequate support to decarbonise, including through funding hybrid heating technologies; ensure that there is sufficient awareness and advice around...

NEA’s response to Ofwat’s consultation “PR24 and beyond: Performance commitments for future price reviews”

NEA believes that any changes to the price cap should not reduce the protections that are in place for fuel poor and vulnerable households during a significant increase in prices. Further protections could be put in place to provide deeper...

NEA’s response to the BEIS Consultation on hydrogen heating trials. NEA welcomes the plans to deliver a hydrogen village trial by 2025. In this response, NEA sets out the key issues that will need to be considered to ensure fuel...

Our Budget and CSR submissions recommend ways to support struggling households to keep warm this winter at a time when energy prices are increasing, incomes are reducing, and there are other financial pressures on households like rising inflation. It also...

NEA is pleased to respond to this open consultation on a new Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat, providing our thoughts and suggested amendments on each of the following proposed priorities.

NEA welcomes the extension and expansion of the ECO scheme until at least April 2026 and fully supports the consultation's continued, critical focus on low-income and vulnerable households and greater support for deeper retrofits for the least energy efficient homes.

NEA is pleased to respond to this open consultation on the vision for the next water price review, PR24, highlighting opportunities to strengthen the vision around customer affordability and vulnerability.

NEA’s response to Ofwat’s consultation on their forward programme for 2021/22 outlines four key areas of focus.

NEA’s Response to the Ofgem Consultation on their Forward Work Programme 2021/23 Gas Levy. NEA believes that Ofgem should provide clarity on the actions they will take in the next year of their consumer vulnerability strategy.

NEA’s Response to the BEIS Consultation on Improving home energy performance through lenders. While NEA agrees with the need to move towards Green Mortgages, there are significant risks to fuel poor households that need to be fully understood. These can...

NEA’s Response to the Ofgem FPNES Governance Drafting Consultation. NEA fully supports the Fuel Poverty Network Extension Scheme, and is pleased that it will continue until 2026. In order for the scheme to reach its full potential, Ofgem must require...

NEA’s response to Ofwat’s consultation on the role of customer engagement in the next price review, PR24.

NEA supports the smart meter rollout, and broadly the mechanism for attributing targets to suppliers for the next phase. However NEA believes this could be improved through the addition of targets specifically to upgrade legacy prepayment meters, as well as...

NEA’s Response to the CCW Call for Evidence for the Water Affordability Review. NEA considers all aspects of the current affordability support in water, highlighting areas of best practice, possible improvements and learnings from other sectors to help develop a...

Despite positive attempts to end fuel poverty in Wales, the statutory targets that were in place to eradicate the scourge of cold homes were missed and fuel poverty continues to be a devastating problem. Here, we respond to the Welsh...

Overall, NEA is pleased that Ofgem is seeking to extend protections for domestic customers who may have prepayment meters installed under warrant (Electricity and Gas Supply Standard Licence Condition 28B). We fully support this approach and it will be necessary...

A joint report from NEA and Waterwise

Following on from the June 2020 NEA policy paper “The Gathering Storm: Utility Debt and Covid-19”, this paper provides an evidence synthesis of personal debt, both prior and post the Covid-19 outbreak, with a focus on the shift from consumer...

NEA recognises that many low-income households experience affordability issues with their essential household bills, rarely struggling with one bill in isolation, and as a result is delivering a programme of work which seeks to support ‘People Living in Water Poverty...

NEA has extensively engaged with Ofgem the DNOs to help shape this price control, through stakeholder meetings, workshops, and through working with Ofgem in the RIIO 2 working groups. NEA is so far pleased with Ofgem’s approach in the ED2...

NEA response to Ofgem’s self-disconnection and self-rationing final proposals

In response to the NAO’s report7 in 2018 on smart meters we highlighted our concern that the smart meter roll-out was significantly back-loaded.

Respiratory and circulatory diseases are linked to living in a cold and damp home and amongst those living with fuel debt. NEA believes that given the outbreak, it’s now even more crucial to help keep people warm and well in...

NEA recognises that many low-income households experience affordability issues with their essential household bills, rarely struggling with one bill in isolation, and as a result is delivering a programme of work which seeks to support ‘People Living in Water Poverty...

In the first few months of 2020, the world watched a global pandemic unfold. Countries around the world were imposing strict nationwide lock-downs, with economies basically shutting down to control the spread of the virus. The turning point for the...

In a modern world, water is recognised as a human right.  It is understood to be essential to life and yet some are so concerned about the cost of it that they actively decide not to use the water they...

In our January 2020 response to Ofwat’s forward work plan, we acknowledged that driving innovation across the water sector was vital to address the strategic challenges the industry faces. We believe the innovation competition allows an additional opportunity for companies...

District heating can contribute to fuel poverty reduction targets through its ability to provide stable and predictable prices for energy over an extended period of time; reduced worry for households about breakdowns or repairs; the creation of local employment opportunities...

Driving consumer and societal outcomes through company performance should remain a key ambition of Ofwat so that it can continue to demonstrate the legitimacy of a privatised water sector even with the reduced risk of re-nationalisation following the recent general...

Over the last year, NEA has worked alongside Citizens Advice on a number of issues in order to facilitate better outcomes for fuel poor and vulnerable households in the energy market.

Over the last year, NEA, alongside other consumer groups, worked with Ofgem to secure some key improvements in the treatment of domestic customers. In particular, we worked to ensure that low income and vulnerable customers had adequate protections in gas...

NEA has a long-standing interest in smart meters and their roll-out in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, particularly with regard to their impact on vulnerable consumers. NEA believes that smart metering has the potential to provide real benefits for vulnerable...

NEA Cymru welcomes the opportunity to respond to the committees inquiry in to fuel poverty and would like to thank the Committee for focusing on this important issue.

The proposals made in this consultation will undoubtedly have a material affect on the number of customers that self-disconnect and self-ration. They are broadly in line with a number of suggestions that NEA made within our response to the preceding...

NEA believes dramatically improving domestic energy efficiency levels remains the most enduring solution to addressing energy affordability, however, we also know other key actions are required in retail energy markets to safeguard vulnerable domestic customers, particularly those living on the...

This paper sets out to explore how adoption of a common and consistent set of approaches to tackling ‘water poverty’ may lead to successful outcomes for customers. It is designed to generate debate across all interested stakeholders and to consider...

Given the stated aim to target low income, fuel poor and vulnerable households; NEA believes it is paramount that beneficiaries of the scheme receive adequate consumer protections.

NEA welcomes Ofwat’s recognition of affordability issues with water bills, highlighted by the 3 million customers in England and Wales saying they struggle to pay their water bills. Ofwat’s interventions to ensure bills are reduced by over 12% before inflation...