What is the PSR?
The Priority Services Register (PSR) is a free service providing extra support to UK households with their water, gas and electricity. This includes extra support and information during outages, priority access to emergency power and gas, as well as communications which better suit the customer’s needs.
There is various eligibility criteria, including living with children under 5, any mental health condition, various disabilities, and being of a pensionable age:
According to the Vulnerability Registration Service, over 80% of adults in the UK have not heard of the PSR, and therefore cannot benefit from it. Furthermore, research conducted on Yorkshire Water customers identified that nearly half (42%) of eligible young families are unaware that they could benefit from the scheme.
TellJO’s wellbeing check identifies vulnerability levels; we’ve found that 98% of the people who’ve completed a wellbeing check fall into the ‘high’ vulnerability category and so qualify for the PSR. Most of these people qualify through pre-existing medical conditions, depression or anxiety.
However, the research in Yorkshire also highlighted that, of the people aware of the PSR, 21% choose not to sign up. Over half of this group cited embarrassment as the reason for not signing up, with a further 35% citing pride.
The role of Utility Companies & Regulators
Utilities have a duty to use and update their Priority Services Register (PSR) – it’s an essential part of vulnerability protection for their customers in the UK. As regulators crack down on commitments ensuring more vulnerable customers get on the register, it’s important to consider methods to help identify vulnerable customers, and how to improve outcomes for those on the register.
Increasing awareness of the programme and destigmatizing support for vulnerable customers is an important task for utilities companies and regulators. Specifically for water companies, Ofwat have regulated that companies are to have at least 7% of their customers on their PSR by 2025. This is complemented with performance pledges by individual companies which set tailored targets to improve the treatment of vulnerable customers. For other utilities companies, there are less explicit targets, but increasing awareness, engagement and accuracy remain priorities.
However, the PSR is far from perfect. Every utility company runs their own PSR, meaning there’s vast regional differences, and very little data sharing. Furthermore, customers on the PSR must be categorised appropriately so that they receive the individual support they need. This requires more, well kept data within the PSR in order for it to function properly in helping those in need.
TellJO offers an innovative solution, helping utility companies including energy giant, E.ON Next, to better update and improve their PSR.
TellJO wellbeing checks allow customers to disclose their situation digitally, without fear of judgement and in a few simple clicks, helping to overcome barriers to PSR registration and provide consent-given customer data that companies can use to better support customers and transform their regulation compliance.
To find out more about how TellJO helps utilities companies such as E.ON Next, please download our report here, or contact us on this page.