National Grid Power Up Advice Hub
The Priority Services Register (PSR) is designed to assist households which include someone who may be particularly vulnerable in the event of a power cut. This includes people of pension age, families with young children or those with long term health conditions.
Customers on the register are prioritised for reconnection in the event of a power cut. They can even receive support from British Red Cross if their health is at risk due to an interruption to their electricity supply, for example if they use oxygen machines or stairlifts.
Through Power Up, National Grid identifies and contacts at-risk customers who may be vulnerable during a power cut. These customers are offered get free and impartial energy advice from their local advice hub. In the South West this means they are contacted by CSE’s advisors. We then support them with a range of issues to help them stay warm and cut their energy bills. This support includes:
- Income maximisation, including benefits entitlement checks and support with applications to sources of financial support such as the Warm Home Discount scheme and Household Support Grants. We also help customers find water company discounts and make referrals to debt advice agencies.
- Energy supplier issues including tariffs and billing, diagnosing high bills, setting up payment plans and managing complaints.
- Introductory retrofit advice and referrals to schemes that offer funding for energy efficiency measures, such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme.
- Heating system upgrades and making best use of heating controls, including low carbon heating systems.
- Behavioural change, to improve thermal comfort and reduce spending on bills, including action to minimise condensation, damp and mould in the home.
- Health and wellbeing, including referrals for fire service home safety checks, reducing loneliness and isolation, referring for occupational therapy and care assessments.
- Smart energy including smart meters, using energy more flexibly and time-of-use tariffs, making the most of solar PV and heat pumps and signposting to digital inclusion schemes.
The South West advice hub
CSE’s service covers Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and parts of Dorset. We work with a number of organisations across the region including local energy advice agencies. The project has also been implemented in the West Midlands (by Coventry Citizens Advice), East Midlands (by Auriga) and in South Wales (by the Energy Saving Trust) under the National Grid ‘Power Up’ brand.
The project is funded until March 2028 and we offer advice to approximately 3,000 PSR customers a year.
Karn Shah is manager of the project at CSE. “Over the past seven years, we have provided a high quality advice service to over 20,000 National Grid customers, helping them save on average of over £200 on their energy bills.
“We are delighted to have secured funding to continue supporting PSR customers over the next five years. Our additional focus will be on making sure vulnerable customers do not get left behind by the transition to a smart, low-carbon energy system.”