Written evidnce submitted by Energy Systems Catapult (EBS0001)

Summary

Energy Systems Catapult welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry on energy bills support.

The Catapult was set up to accelerate the transformation of the UK’s energy system and ensure UK businesses and consumers capture the opportunities of clean growth. The Catapult is an independent, not-for-profit centre of excellence that bridges the gap between industry, Government, academia, and research. We take a whole systems view of the energy sector, including in policy design and implementation, helping us to identify and address innovation priorities and market barriers, to decarbonise the energy system at the lowest cost.

Our submission calls for a national rollout of Warm Home Prescription – an innovating service we developed, tested, and are now rolling out in partnership with energy companies and the NHS. Warm Home Prescription delivers proven health and comfort benefits that are targeted to the most vulnerable in our society, and does at a lower cost to the Treasury (or to energy consumers) than the untargeted approaches of the past.

The Warm Home Prescription provides immediate direct bill support to vulnerable consumers and can also provide long term energy efficiency measures to lower future energy bills. Referrals into the service is via social prescribers in the NHS. This provides link into the scheme for vulnerable consumers from a trusted party to maximise the take up rate.

Vulnerability in relation to energy service access is complex, varied, and dynamic and requires providers to adopt inclusive design principles. This means taking much better account of the varying needs and modes of engaging with and paying for essential energy services. At the same time, low income and vulnerable consumer segments represent opportunities for service improvement that have been under-explored in the traditional approach to energy retail.[1]

Rapid testing and trialling of novel service propositions is proven to improve the success rate of service propositions.[2] We applied this principle when developing the concept of Warm Home Prescription: our hypothesis was that – by working with the NHS – policy interventions can be more effectively targeted to those who struggle to afford energy and have severe health conditions made worse by the cold. Following a rapid “discovery phase” in 2020, we have delivered a series of real world trials of the service, each with larger scope and ambition than the previous:

• During winter 2021-22, we piloted a small study with NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group and local energy advisor Severn Wye Energy Agency to show that it works on the ground.
• Following the success of the 28-home pilot in Gloucestershire, in 2022-23 we partnered with local NHS partners and local energy advice organisations in Aberdeen, Middlesbrough, Gloucestershire and London to deliver the service to 823 vulnerable and low-income individuals.
• 76% of trial recipients in 2022-23 reported that after experiencing the Warm Home Prescription service they were more likely to make improvements to their homes, to make it more energy efficient and easier to heat. On the back on this, in 2023 we supported 92 households in Aberdeen and Teesside who had been part of the 2022-23 trial to provide home energy improvements. Results suggests that the intervention delivered healthy temperatures in the home and improved confidence for participants.
• We have now partnered with Scottish Power to test how Warm Home Prescription can help better target the offering of home energy improvements under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). We aim to scale the service up to 1,000 households initially, with ambitions to eventually double that number.

December 2024