Vulnerable customers

Providing support to our more vulnerable customers is central to our commitment to treat customers fairly. We define vulnerable customers as those who are unable to safeguard their personal welfare or the personal welfare of other members of the household for reasons of age, health, disability or severe financial insecurity.

The tough economic climate, rising unemployment, upward trends in energy prices and poorly insulated homes mean an increasing number of customers are experiencing severe temporary or long term financial hardship. It can be challenging to distinguish between genuinely vulnerable customers who would like to pay but struggle to do so, and those who can pay but choose not to. Our policy is never to disconnect someone we believe to be vulnerable. Disconnections for any customers must be signed off by an executive team member.

North America

In North America, we tailor our approach to varying government regulations and eligibility criteria for supporting vulnerable customers in each market. In most North American markets, we do not have a direct relationship with the end user of our energy as either the utility company bills consumers on behalf of energy suppliers such as Direct Energy or we work with brokers, consultants or re-sellers who manage the end-user relationship. This makes it difficult to support vulnerable customers through special tariffs and services. However, Direct Energy continues to guide vulnerable customers to regional support programmes such as our Neighbor-to-Neighbor programme in Texas.

UK

In the UK, our strategy is to deliver targeted assistance to vulnerable customers to ensure the help they receive is appropriate to their needs. We work directly with customers and third parties to offer advice to customers on managing their energy costs, payment plans and the energy efficiency of their housing.

A substantial part of our investment in the UK is through the government's Warm Home Discount scheme, which provides vulnerable customers with an annual one-off payment towards their energy bills. We also provide financial support to the British Gas Energy Trust, an independent charity which awards grants to customers struggling with their energy bills.

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a UK government energy efficiency scheme that requires energy suppliers like British Gas to improve the energy efficiency of domestic properties through measures such as solid wall and cavity insulation and energy efficient boilers. Part of the ECO commitment will be to provide measures which improve the ability of low income and vulnerable households (the 'Affordable Warmth Group') to affordably heat their homes.

We measure our support for vulnerable customers in the UK by the total number of households helped through these and our other programmes. See our data centre for all our customer related metrics.