Today we published Get it, together – the case for collective switching in the age of connected consumers. This report argues that a collective approach to switching can improve consumers’ experience of the energy, financial services and telecoms markets.

The people who created these markets shared a common expectation that by giving consumers choice they would drive competition. By seeking out and switching to better deals in sufficient numbers and with sufficient frequency, consumers would realise the benefits of competition – namely better value, better service and innovation.

The problem is, consumers don’t tend to conform with this expectation and for good reason too. These markets are complex and identifying a better energy tariff, mobile phone contract, or interest rate for our savings can be like trying to find our way through a maze. And most of us know someone who’s been left bruised by a poor switching experience. As a result, the common characteristic of these markets is deep-seated inertia. And if consumers don’t engage in these markets, competition stalls and the benefits it should deliver are absent.

What if we could offer an alternative to consumers who have rejected the conventional ‘go it alone’ route to market? One that transformed inertia from a force that works against consumers to a force that an intermediary can put to work on their behalf; and one that offered consumers the prospect of a better deal for much less effort.

Collective switching has the potential to make this possible. It would transfer the onus for getting a better deal from consumers to an intermediary that does the hard work in these markets for them. It would offer the focal point around which consumers could cluster as a group, bringing together the group’s demand and fashioning it into a block of market share that providers are then compelled to compete for. The intermediary would then manage the mass switch of participating consumers to the provider who had offered the best deal to the group.

iChoosr and the Dutch consumer body, Consumentenbond, have successfully used this approach in energy markets on the European mainland; and we are starting to see attempts to make it work here, including the Which? Big Switch initiative and thePeoplesPower.co.uk. More are in the pipeline. Unsurprisingly, the consumer response to these initiatives indicates significant demand for being able to engage in these markets in a hassle-free way. We believe collective switching will grow from these early initiatives into a major force that gives consumers the power to get a better deal from the markets listed here. We look forward to engaging with any organisation that has an interest in the ideas set out in the report and in working with them to realise the potential of collective switching.

Making data freely available for everyone to use presents many opportunities. It can support organisations working for change by providing high-quality, accessible information. It can support advice and advocacy organisations delivering services, and, perhaps most importantly, through the delivery of digital applications it can support individuals directly. For example open data has been used to create map and public transport apps.

At an organisational level open data is already changing the way we work. Organisations that used to rely on Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to access routine information can now expect that information to be readily accessible when they need it. If it’s not yet released, they should know how to press dataholders for it.

At our workshop in March people told us open data ‘reduced the friction’ in relationships with dataholders, creating new information ‘ecologies’ that are easier for people to access. As it’s less time-consuming than making an FOI request, it means people can spend less time chasing organisations for data and more time doing something productive with it.

Where data isn’t released it might be because it isn’t collected or retained in the first place. These gaps in data can often tell just as powerful stories as the data itself, exposing shortcomings in data collection and management by dataholders. For example, a lack of data on specific expenditure on particular client groups might imply a low priority, a lack of strategic planning, or even that they’re trying to hide something.

At our event From broadcast to conversation we asked people what they thought open data would mean for their organisations, and captured some of their responses in the video below.

Read my previous blog on open data.

Last Thursday Consumer Focus, along with the Norwegian consumer council and the French consumer association, joined artists and small collecting societies in the European Parliament to discuss how copyright licensing on a collective basis can benefit artists. At the ‘Towards the reform of collective rights management: Time for a fair remuneration of artists‘ conference, organised by the Greens/European Free Alliance, panellists discussed how the forthcoming Directive on collective rights management could ensure fairer pay for artists whose works are licensed to radio stations, pubs, online services and the like.

In my presentation I quoted our recent research which found that 77 per cent of British consumers expect that a fair share of the money they pay for music, films and e-books goes to the artists who created the work. Consumers do not obtain licences from collecting societies, which provide blanket licences on behalf of thousands of artists. Instead businesses and educational institutions need to obtain such licences on behalf of consumers. Because collecting societies enable the cost-effective mass use of copyright protected content they are important to consumers, but the performance of collecting societies has been very mixed across Europe.

Mixed performance

Thomas Nortvedt from the Norwegian Consumer Council highlighted how targeted regulation ensures Norwegian collecting societies operate transparently and manage rights effectively on a collective basis. But warned that there has not been a lot of good news about collective rights management and that trust in collective rights management is declining.

Kelvin Smits from Younison, a pressure group of artists from across Europe, recounted the recent scandals that have rocked collective rights management across Europe: in February this year SABAM, the Belgian music collecting society, was charged with falsifying accounts and fraud; and in July last year police raided the Spanish music collecting society SGAE to arrest and charged eight employees for embezzling millions. Edouard Barreiro from the French consumer group UFC Que Choisir pointed out persistent problems with French collecting societies, which like their Belgian and Spanish counterparts are subject to regulation. Both Kelvin and Edouard forcefully rejected the argument by a French collecting society in response to their criticism that ‘corruption happens everywhere’.

I highlighted the fact the relationship between artists and collecting societies is governed by contract, but that these contracts are exempt from the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 in the UK. Apparently artists face similar barriers in other European countries.  

Common ground on copyright

Contracts and the effectiveness of collective rights management, and other alternatives such as the proposed Digital Copyright Exchange, were discussed at the February event we organised with the Creators Rights Alliance to discuss ‘Consumers’ and creators’ common ground on copyright’. According to the British Writers Guild, which attended both our event and last weeks’ event in the European Parliament, collecting societies withhold significant sums from writers in commissions, membership charges, and cultural and social levies. When money passes through several collecting societies to compensate writers for the use of their work in other European countries such charges can approach 50 per cent of the writer’s payment. Similar problems with the cross-border licensing of music were highlighted by musicians at the common ground event.

UK artists more than other European artists loose out from ineffective cross-border licensing as their works enjoy sizable audiences beyond UK borders. The UK is currently one of only three EU member states which does not regulate collecting societies at all. Following sustained complaints the Government has accepted the recommendation of the Hargreaves’ Review to ensure that all collecting societies adhere to minimum standards. The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has just consulted on a range of minimum standards for the treatment of licensees and members of collecting societies, as well as governance and accounting. As highlighted in my presentation, regulation across Europe has thus far focused on the relationship between collecting societies and the businesses which need to obtain licences. It is therefore welcome that the IPO intends to ensure UK artists enjoy rights vis-a-vis collecting societies, ensuring artists get a fair share of the money consumers ultimately pay for copyright protected content.

Trust in collective rights management

The main aim of the European Directive will be to facilitate the effective cross-border licensing of copyright protected works in Europe, moves which could bring significant financial benefits for UK artists. A list of standards on reciprocal agreements between collecting societies that we believe the directive should incorporate can be found in our submission to the European Commission. However, I also highlighted in my presentation that the experience in other European countries suggests that more regulation is not necessary better regulation. The UK’s move towards establishing targeted minimum standards on governance and accounting, along with rights for artists, would ensure trust in collective rights management. This in turn would support new business models and deliver significant benefits to consumers, the digital economy and artists.

I’m delighted to introduce our new website – the Digital Engagement Cookbook. It’s to help local authorities, charities, retailers, service providers and campaign groups, among others, to explore the new opportunities that the digital world offers for engaging and empowering citizens and consumers. Digital tools and channels are an increasingly essential way of engaging citizens and consumers, and helping them to mobilise around an issue or make more informed decisions. 

The Digital Engagement Cookbook – www.digitalengagement.org – aims to help users decipher which technology-based methods are best-suited to consumer empowerment activities such as campaigning, consulting and collective action. It is one of the most comprehensive, categorised collections of digital engagement methods on the web and includes over 140 links to examples of them in action.

The website will help public engagement professionals to explore the full range of ways to engage consumers effectively, and think wider than social media or web-only methods. The Digital Engagement Cookbook examines methods from webinars and online forums, to serious games and crowdsourcing, and everything in-between.

The website shows the strengths and weaknesses of a range of methods, to help make digital dialogues with consumers in the future as constructive as possible. It also provides examples for each method as well as links to the relevant tools to put the methods into action to make the site as practical and useful as possible.

Find the most relevant engagement methods

But what we think will really excite users of the site is the purpose-built search engine which helps you find the digital engagement methods most relevant to your needs. It works just by answering a few simple questions.

New methods will be added to the website on a regular basis and in order to remain current, users will eventually be able to submit their own methods, case studies and examples via the site for inclusion in the database.

Please take a look and tell us what you think.

We’ve now got a Localism Act, we’ve heard about the Big Society, and we have plenty of participation theory to study or debate. But what does it all add up to? What does the Act change? What do we need to do differently?

Not a lot, according to the experts that we brought together this month for a workshop in central London. It is more about building on what we’ve already done rather than changing what we do.

We held a great seminar to launch our report Hands up and hands on and showcase a range of case studies. We found there’s a huge amount of work going on around the country. The great things about the day were:

• establishing the links between practical insights and the research findings – people are willing to get involved but you need to meet them on their terms, fit with their life and their priorities
• hearing the stories of people working hard in their local areas and communities to improve the quality of life in many different ways – as well as getting a lot out of it and really enjoying it
• making connections and catalysts – people were sparking ideas off one another, realising they are not on their own, getting together to join forces or share projects

The Clissold Park User Group told us about trying to balance the competing interests of dog owners, cyclists, and the need for space for deer to roam. These tensions can only be resolved by making sure everyone can get involved – and the best people to do that are within the local community. You have to get the message out, and win people over.

Engagement workers in Surrey have learnt it is important to provide an environment where it’s safe to have difficult conversations, agree common ground rules and to leave yourself time.

The Solihull environment champions project has built up gradually since 2007. The first batch of 60 champions came from the existing neighbourhood watch network. Now there are over 270 champions, linking with schools and local business to support clean up operations (through volunteers, donations of money, paint or other equipment). A Charter sets the ground rules for membership so that champions know what’s expected of them.

Positive experiences encourage people to do more but we don’t hear enough about them. How can we capture this ‘gold dust’, let more people know about it, and put people in touch with one another so they can share what they know and support one another?

When we held our workshop; From broadcast to conversation, last week, it was the culmination of an incredible journey through the open data landscape. At Consumer Focus we went from relative novices to ‘so-called’ experts in the space of a few months. We began last year talking to Passenger Focus and developers about open data in transport and it soon became apparent that we weren’t the only ones undertaking this journey; as the government opens up more and more data, more and diverse organisations are drawn in by the potential open data has to transform the way people access services and view democratic accountability.

Fortunately we were helped by two factors: a growing awareness among consumer and voluntary sector groups of the potential to respective members; and some real expertise in the open data community – a keenness to reach out and engage with new people and organisations. Our workshop last week sought to build on this and bring together the next generation of open data users with developers, seasoned campaigners, voluntary sector leaders and the new departments opening up in government to support the development of open data.

Bringing these groups together brought different experiences and levels of exposure to open data. The subsequent discussion made for a lively afternoon. Some of the common themes I took away from the discussion were:

Social value: open data has the power to transform people’s lives through its social impact, often not measurable through financial metrics. The current focus on business innovation presents a risk this gain for the voluntary and consumer sector will be missed, or be secondary to making open data profitable at the expense of delivering real benefits to real people’s lives.

Engaging with developers: there was a sense developers were an unknown entity, with people unsure how to locate and commission the expertise they need to access open data and make it relevant to their members. Workshops like ours designed to showcase the open data landscape, and the much larger, long-term engagement work in the voluntary sector by the Nominet Trust, work towards deconstructing these barriers and creating a common language to build relationships on.

There is still much to do in showcasing open data to a new generation, Consumer Focus among them. Knowing there are already projects underway to develop open data with the people who can really use it should nudge government into supporting further engagement, especially if it wants to attract and retain a diverse range of stakeholders on open data. The speed with which we at Consumer Focus have gone from open data novice to open data expert should also demonstrate how easy it can be.

And there are also specific opportunities that present themselves now. The Cabinet Office is currently running a consultation on the Data Strategy Board. This will manage the release of open data to come, and it is essential the voluntary and consumer sectors, those organisations that represent the end users of open data, are actively represented. The addition of their voice in the debate will help business innovation, help foster economic growth and deliver real benefits for real people. Their voice will help root open data in a long-term culture of openness, that will last long into the future, and ultimately make our investment of time and resources now, pay off.

Our recent event on copyright turned out to be a thought-provoking day with a busy agenda. Consumer Focus and the Creators’ Rights Alliance brought consumers and creators together to discuss: copyright exceptions – which allow work to be reused without the copyright owner’s permission; ‘orphan works’ – where the copyright owner can’t be found after a ‘diligent’ search; and copyright licensing – how to ensure that creators get a fair share of what consumers pay for copyright protected content.

The first panel started a hearty and engaging debate. Later in the day we were joined by Richard Hooper who, instead of delivering a speech, quizzed the audience on what a Digital Copyright Exchange may achieve, encouraging everybody to get involved in his feasibility study. The Exchange would be a source of information about rights ownership and make rights clearance easier.

The discussion was based on proposals to reform copyright law and licensing, following the Government’s endorsement of the Hargreaves review of intellectual property and growth. Consumers and creators could both benefit if the proposed changes make it onto the statute books. Aside from the proposed private use exception, creators are the heaviest ‘users’ of copyright exceptions, such as the one for current events reporting and the proposed exception for parody, where parts of an old work are fashioned into a new work to criticise or poke fun. Not only was everybody in the room a consumer, but in the digital world everybody can be a creator. The news reporting exception will now have to work for journalists and anyone who takes to the blogs.

Common ground was easily found and armed with a discussion guide the audience examined the shortcomings of the Hargreaves review. Two issues cropped up repeatedly: the lack of ‘moral rights’ creators enjoy in the UK; and the unequal bargaining position of creators in contract negotiations with large companies. Creators were keen to stress the link between an automatic right to attribution and a better chance that creators ultimately receive a fair share of what consumers pay. Strong links were also drawn between attribution and quality and accountability in journalism and news reporting.

Common ground identified throughout the day included:

• broad agreement about the need for automatic moral rights, particularly attribution ie the right of the creator to have their name linked to the work even if they have sold the copyright, and integrity, ie not to have the work associated with something ‘immoral’
• agreement on the need for better metadata (the data on a file indicating the source) identifying creators throughout the distribution chain
• agreement on the importance of addressing problems with contracts – both those between end-users and intermediaries, and between creators and intermediaries
• considerable interest in the idea that copyright, ie ‘economic rights’, could revert to creators after a certain time or when not exploited

We are now preparing to engage a wider audience in the debate. The Parliamentary Internet Communications and Technology Forum (Pictfor) has kindly agreed to host our event Hargreaves Review: The rights of consumers and creators under UK copyright law on 13 March, 6–7.30pm. If you would like to join us, email admin@pictfor.org.uk.

Around £4 billion a year will be collected in carbon taxes from companies over the next 15 years. The organisers of a  new campaign, supported by Consumer Focus – called the Energy Bill Revolution – think the money should be spent by the Government on making homes more energy efficient. The campaign supporters want everyone to sign a petition on its website – www.energybillrevolution.org – to ignite support for this move.

The idea behind the Energy Bill Revolution is that carbon taxes, paid by industry and ultimately consumers, shouldn’t just be used to lag Treasury coffers. The campaign supporters believe the money should be spent making homes energy efficient – that means warmer homes, and reduced energy bills. £4 billion a year could provide £6,500 per home to make 600,000 fuel poor households highly energy efficient every year. This would bring down their energy bills by £310 a year and remove nine out of 10 homes from fuel poverty within 15 years. It would create up to 200,000 jobs and drive a four-fold reduction in carbon seeping out of homes.

Research for the campaign by energy efficiency experts Camco, reveals that fuel poverty could affect 9.1 million households by 2016 – the Government’s target year to eliminate fuel poverty altogether. The number of UK households in fuel poverty would increase from one in four to one in three families living in cold, health-damaging homes. People who are particularly vulnerable are children, older people, disabled people and those with chronic illnesses.

The Camco research takes into account the future impact of the Government’s planned energy efficiency policies – the Green Deal programme to pay for energy efficiency through bills, as well as the new Energy Company Obligation which will provide subsidies for insulation and heating. It shows these programmes will fall short of meeting both climate change and fuel poverty targets unless significantly more financial support comes from the government.

The campaign petition is already backed by 50 leading charities, unions, consumer groups and companies, including Save the Children, IKEA, Asda, trade unions and Friends of the Earth.

Find out more and sign the petition

Follow the campaign on Twitter.  Join the conversation using hashtag #energybillrev.

We organised consumer workshops in Reading and Cardiff about energy infrastructure and the support for low-income vulnerable households such as pensioners last weekend. In two six-hour sessions the attendees discussed who should pay for affordable, secure and sustainable energy. Should it be the customer through higher energy bills, or should it be the tax-payer or the companies and their shareholders?

Only a few days earlier EDF had published new information on mammoth profits of £1.6 billion. We reminded participants of the mammoth investment needs of its planned programme of four new nuclear power stations. Sorry shareholders – not much sympathy for you.

We also talked about how energy efficiency improvements should be financed. Should they be socialised through schemes like Warm Front, shared by energy customers like the Energy Company Obligation or should they be borne by the individual beneficiary as through the Green Deal? Lots of the attendees had benefited from these programmes and spoke about the immediate savings in their bills. Over the course of the day we revealed more information about how the energy industry works and is paid for, and the debate got more heated. 

Further work

This research will feed into a large-scale willingness to pay survey to be conducted in March. The ultimate aim is to test the extent of consumer knowledge and their willingness to pay for various scenarios of taxes, energy price changes and efficiency grants in order to inform policy development.

We were delighted that many of the participants asked to take their information packs home so they could continue the debates with their friends and families. One observer from the Department of Energy and Climate Change commented that she wished other consumers could participate in similar opportunities to learn about the difficult trade-offs energy companies, regulators and Government have to make.

There’s still one more workshop to go – in Glasgow. We’ve already got the participants lined up, but you can let us know your thoughts on paying for affordable, secure and sustainable energy using the comments box below.

Melissa O’Young

Melissa works at the Collective Purchasing and Collaborative Consumption team at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Have you thought of new ways of buying collectively to help save money? Or had an amazing idea on tools that can help individuals group together to buy collectively?

Today Co-operatives UK and The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have launched The Buy Better Together Challenge, an exciting initiative to inspire new models of community buying, stimulate enterprise and promote shared learning. £60,000 will go towards training, mentoring and seed funding for stand out projects, including £15,000 for the overall winner! 

Community buying helps individuals combine their buying power to purchase goods or services together to get better deals, better service or better quality of products. Overheads are spread, which in turn, results in lower costs for people participating in the schemes. Communities can get together to buy a range of goods and services from heating oil to solar panels to gym equipment. 

The Challenge is open to groups and organisations within the public, business or voluntary sectors. There is an exciting panel of judges including Tim Campbell MBE (winner of ‘The Apprentice’), and selected applicants will get mentoring to help develop their project.

Have you got an idea? What are you waiting for! Applications are open from today until the 15 May. For more information and to apply, please see www.bis.gov.uk/buying. 

Join the conversation on community buying on Twitter using hashtag #communitybuy.

Making sure homes are properly insulated and have decent heating can make a big difference to reducing energy bills and keeping warm and well.

Fuel poverty is on the up in the UK with almost seven million households estimated to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel. Did you know that Warm Front is the only Government-funded scheme to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency in the poorest households in England? But the scheme is set for an underspend of up to £30 million this year. Older people, families and people with long-term health problems are the ones who will miss out on much-needed help. We’ve joined forces with National Energy Action to encourage anyone who thinks they may be eligible for Warm Front to put in a claim.

The scheme means you can have up to £3,500 of work done on your home to get it insulated and get central heating – £6,000 where oil central heating and other alternative technologies are needed.

Last year the scheme was so popular it was over-subscribed but this year the numbers applying are down dramatically. By the end of December 2010, 139,000 people had applied for help under the scheme – compared to just 40,000 at the end of 2011.

So what’s stopping people from applying for Warm Front? Part of the explanation for such a dramatic reduction in applications is that the total money for scheme was cut by over two thirds – from £366 million in 2010 to £143 million this year. Some people seem to think the scheme had been completely scrapped. This was reinforced by the Government making it harder to be eligible for the scheme. So disabled people getting Disability Living Allowance or families with older children on low incomes, for example, were excluded this year. But another major factor has been the weather – it has been much milder and that has kept demand down.

Eligible consumers
The group who are eligible for Warm Front are those who are on income-related benefits who automatically get a Cold Weather Payment when it’s cold for seven days or more. To find out more look on Directgov. People can apply for the scheme online, by post, or by phone on 0800 316 6004 (or textphone 0800 072 0156), Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm. Apply quickly before the money is lost and you lose out!

It’s Big Energy Week, so it seemed worth looking ahead to see what consumers face in what could be a big energy year. In 2011 you probably saw your energy bills go up. The average energy bill rose over 21 per cent[1], and the number of customers entering new debt repayment arrangements rose by 20 per cent and 25 per cent for gas and electricity customers respectively[2].

Some media have focused on green taxes as the driver of rising bills, but the true driver has been the international price of fossil fuels. Prices should fall as gas and electricity prices have hit a 20 month low, and we have seen some price cuts this week, but the tough economic climate will continue and energy prices are expected to continue to rise in the long-term. For these reasons we do not expect to see consumer and political concern about energy bills diminish, and instead expect to see a greater focus on new energy products and services, complete with marketing efforts to make them attractive to consumers.

Our biggest concern is that in this rush to attract the ‘able-to-pay’ to new energy efficiency services, Government will leave behind the most vulnerable consumers as they cut public funding for fuel poverty programmes in England and support for basic measures in social housing.

Here are our 10 predictions for what 2012 will bring for energy consumers:

1. Reduce use We will continue to see consumers turning down their thermostats and wrapping up to take control of their energy bills[3]
2. Shift use We estimate 20 per cent of customers already use basic time-of-use tariffs such as Economy 7, but expect suppliers to pilot many more options in 2012 to encourage shifting use to different times or to reduce use
3. Smart use? By the end of 2012 suppliers aim to have at least two million smart meters installed with the majority of customers having an energy monitor provided with their meter – but it is not yet clear how consumers will respond
4. Social housing left behind 2012 could be the last year for social housing to benefit from support for basic energy efficiency measures[4], but homes will remain unimproved where local authorities cannot provide matched funding or where improvements are prohibited by planning law or prevented by the presence of existing measures
5. Government shrink help for the most vulnerable After 30 years, 2012 is the last year of public-funded support for fuel poverty programmes in England (they will continue in Scotland and Wales). Campaigners will increase the pressure to raise and spend funds fairly
6. ‘Able to pay’ are encouraged to pay In advance of the Green Deal we will see more and more companies testing ways to make energy efficiency aspirational, going beyond cost and carbon to quality and comfort as they seek to identify viable commercial offers
7. Energy efficiency seen as an investment A number of developments in 2011 suggest that energy efficiency will be a greater factor in property investment decisions: the ban from 2018 on renting out EPC Band F and G properties; improvements to the EPC content, format, and its provision to clients; and the Financial Services Authority recommendation in its Mortgage Market Review that banks scrutinise household expenditure and bills in their lending tests
8. Renewable heat emerges in off-gas areas While the change in the feed-in tariff may dent confidence, we expect to see more take-up of renewable heating systems in off-gas areas, particularly in Scotland, as running costs get competitive regardless of subsidy
9. A sense of community Consumers are more likely to be attracted by community scale renewable schemes following changes to the feed-in tariff scheme, while groups of consumers may form to use their buying power to negotiate better energy tariffs
10. A slow start to the Green Deal Green Deal products will come online towards the end of the year, but we only expect a gradual take-up starting with typical early adopters, particularly those who are more energy conscious. A slow start is not a bad thing if consumers are satisfied and share their positive experiences with others

Digital channels are increasingly being used to deliver products and services to the public, across all sectors. But what does this mean for the consumer? Where do risks lie – new ones, or variations on old themes? From privacy loss to disengagement with the ‘real’ world, to new scams, to abuses of market power…what are the areas that concern people?

Where should they be perhaps be more concerned, or more informed? And what regulatory or other actions may be needed as a result?

These questions form the background to a new research report from Ctrl-Shift, commissioned by Consumer Focus. Drawing extensively on expert opinion, the report brings together a very wide range of downsides that sit alongside all the benefits of digital delivery.

Aside from digital exclusion (which is being covered by another project), there’s something here to interest everyone with a stake in digital policy or strategy development.

We’re bringing together content using the tag #digitaldownsides – so if you do feel moved to pick up and comment on some of these issues, it would be great if you could use that.

The report isn’t officially launched at the moment – treat this as a preview – what’s needed as a next step is some work on this raw research material to shape policy priorities and establish which areas need further action.

The report is available at: http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/policy-research/digital-communications/digital-downsides

As you may be aware, one of our statutory duties is to be consumer advocate for domestic and micro-business customers. We have been receiving concerning feedback about the experience of micro-businesses in the electricity and gas markets. This feedback, among other aspects, concerns contracting, price and service levels, and sales processes.

We’ve asked Cornwall Energy to update a review of the non-domestic energy markets that they undertook for energywatch, one of our predecessor organisations, in 2004 (http://bit.ly/rENRtx).

A very important element of this report was its survey of stakeholder views and we are interested in hearing from you if you are a micro-business customer. We’re very keen that the updated review incorporates stakeholders’ opinions on:

• the level of competition in supply to non-domestic customers in general and micro-businesses in particular
• general trading conditions for micro-businesses including terms of contract, pricing and margins and standards of service with particular emphasis on how they differ from the wide non-domestic market and whether they have changed since increased protections for micro-businesses were implemented in 2010 following Ofgem’s 2008 Probe
• issues that may act to inhibit non-domestic consumers, especially microbusinesses, from benefiting from competition in supply and how they might be addressed
• the role of agents, brokers and other third party intermediaries including whether there is a need for them to be specifically regulated in either the micro-business sector and/or the wider non-domestic market
• how competition in supply could develop over the next two years given the proposals arising from Ofgem’s Retail Market Review, the Green Deal and other policy initiatives

We have asked Cornwall Energy to update their analysis as fully as possible, but we are well aware of the commercial sensitivities in this area. To this end, while we would prefer as open a process as possible, we understand that there may be information you may wish to provide us confidentially. We and our advisers will of course respect any information provided to us in this way.

We have asked Cornwall Energy to complete this work to a tight schedule (Friday 10 February 2012) so the findings can be used to inform our work as soon as possible.  Cornwall Energy has drafted the a questionnaire (Word 132KB) which you may find helpful when responding.

Should you wish to respond, or have any queries please contact Robert Buckley at Cornwall Energy in the first instance. He is contactable on 07717 471317 or robert@cornwallenergy.com.

Depending on your response, Robert may wish to contact you to pursue further any issues you may raise. Please indicate in your response whether you would be willing to undertake a follow up interview or telephone conversation in late February/early March 2012.

I hope you are able to help us with our analysis and am very grateful for any assistance you can provide.

With Christmas fast approaching, and last minute parcels being sent, it’s worth remembering that Royal Mail is trialling leaving post with a neighbour (if people aren’t home and the package is too big for their letterbox).

In a number of trial areas, the postie will choose a neighbour and ask if they will look after the package. They’ll then leave a card to tell the intended recipient where the package has been left so it can be collected.

No doubt lots of people will find this more convenient than having to arrange redelivery or collect the parcel from the delivery office. But some people have told us that they are not keen on the idea of their post going to their neighbour. What would you think if you posted a parcel and it didn’t go straight to its intended recipient?

Did you know Royal Mail offers customers the option to opt-out of the scheme? Customers in the trial areas can request a sticker to display at their address.  

Consumers’ needs at heart
The large-scale trial covers nearly 750,000 addresses and runs until 25 February 2012. To find out which postcodes are covered, go to Royal Mail’s website.

We welcome the trial and are working closely with Royal Mail and Ofcom, the regulator. It will be independently monitored and the result will be shared with us.

We’ll also be conducting our own research with a clear focus on the success of the trial from the perspective of the consumers involved. We will keep you updated on the results.

As we advance into the 21st century, the world is changing fast. Widespread access to social media and other ‘web 2.0’ technologies is transforming how we behave and what we can achieve as consumers. It’s also enabling us to speak out to our peers and speak back to the providers of goods and services. Business magazine, Forbes, noted in September that:

‘This social might is now moving toward your company. We have entered the age of empowered individuals, who use potent new technologies and harness social media to organize themselves.’

For any organisation representing the consumer interest, this presents an interesting quandary: in an age when consumers have a voice and are not afraid to use it, what’s the role of a body that claims to be the voice of consumers? I’ve recently set out some initial thoughts that respond to this question in a blog piece that can be found on Consumers International’s website.

Get off to a flying start – always include the postcode when addressing your items. This will ensure that they are processed efficiently and help prevent loss or delay.

You can check up to 15 postcodes free every day on Royal Mail’s website or by calling 0906 302 1222 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm; calls charged at 50p/minute). If you write a return address on your items they can be returned to you if they can’t be delivered.

After six weeks of huge effort to install panels before the proposed cuts to Feed-in Tariffs take effect, many solar PV companies will be waiting anxiously for their phones to ring. How will consumers respond to the cuts in the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) that came into effect on 12 December? And will social housing projects be able to finance systems at the new rate?

In September, we researched consumer experience of microgeneration and the FiT. Our new report Keeping FiT presents our findings along with insights from the Energy Saving Trust on consumer attitudes to renewable technologies. 

The report does not dwell on the cuts, not least because their timing and scale were unpredictable at the time of the research, but there are lessons that we must draw. I’ll start with the positive…

• The private sector showed it can respond promptly and at scale to market interventions from Government
• Customer satisfaction is high, countering traditional distrust of energy and building sectors
• Customers were willing to make long-term investments, believing that they were increasing the value of their home

Where there are problems, some could be resolved by the Government in their ongoing review: for example, eligibility should be based on the date of installation, not registration; and suppliers must not overcompensate consumers who have meters that run backwards when exporting electricity.

Other solutions are down to the installers, particularly the problem of misselling. Some suggest that the cuts will put ‘cowboys who jumped on the solar band wagon’ out of business. The development of the energy services market needs a stronger consumer protection framework than that though – from tougher rules on cold-calling to more resources for enforcement.

So where do FiTs go from here? We think opportunities will remain, particularly if the Government can put the funding of the tariff on to a more stable footing. Some people will still get a decent rate of return, provided they meet energy efficiency criteria; investors are not necessarily after a large return; and energy prices will continue to rise. But we are yet to see if consumers and communities will have the confidence to invest. 

Government has talked of its concern about the impact on consumers’ bills. We support the need not to overcompensate, but our response to the challenge would be very different. Fairness comes from opportunity for all, not by further limiting access. Price rises from energy companies swamp the impact of the FiT, and the latter enables consumers to protect themselves from the former. 

We want Green Deal to provide up-front finance for microgeneration alongside other low-carbon measures (subject to energy efficiency eligibility criteria). And we want Government to wrap not-for-profit social housing schemes into the community tariff (proposed as part of the FiT review), with an interim solution announced for those installed by April 2011. But contracts will have been cancelled, or gone unsigned, and it is uncertain if trust can be won back.

Finally, up to this point Government has avoided retrospective impacts on contracts due to the need for investor confidence. It must act now to re-invoke that confidence in its low carbon policies by basing changes to the tariff on the date of contract, not registration.

Read our blog on uSwitch.com.

Don’t ‘coo’ at the post office counter – use your local sub post office, not a High Street branch, to beat the queues in the run up to Christmas.

Your neighbourhood post office is likely to be less busy during December than larger High Street post offices where average queue times may be higher.

Paying for electricity or gas this winter

Money is tight for many people, especially at this time of year. As well as the cost of Christmas, we know millions of people are in debt to their electricity or gas supplier. The recent energy price increases of 14 per cent could push even more vulnerable households over the edge into debt this winter.

Our research¹ shows that the number of people with new energy debts has continued to rise. Did you know over half of people in Britain are worried about being able to afford their energy bills this winter? That figure is even higher among families and older people living on low incomes, with almost two-thirds concerned.

It may also surprise you to know that one in six people plan to only heat half, or fewer, of the rooms in their house this winter. One in 20 people will only be heating one or two rooms (rising to one in 10 of those in the poorest social group).

Help is out there

We know higher energy prices, rising bills for other essentials and falling incomes could push more people into debt with their energy company this winter, and we want people to know that help is out there.

We want to make sure consumers understand what to do and what their rights are if they fall behind on their energy bills. So, together with our colleagues at Citizens Advice,² earlier this winter we launched a campaign to ‘Plug the Debt’.

Energy suppliers want to (and have to) help consumers who are having problems affording their electricity or gas bills. It is really important that people get in touch with their energy firm as soon as they think they might have problems, before debts start to spiral. Citizen’s Advice or the Home Heat Helpline can also help.

The Plug the Debt campaign has lots of useful information, and we have packs that include template letters and leaflets for advice providers and frontline staff involved in helping consumers. Contact us for more information.

More information is available on the campaign page on our website or through Citizens Advice Bureaus.