'Whole world of complexity' for energy companies to deliver on government promises, says energy CTO
Christina Scott, Chief Product and Technology Officer of Ovo Energy, explains that the government announces schemes to help the public, but the details of how they can be implemented doesn’t come until much later
Government schemes designed to help the public cope with rising energy bills are extremely difficult for utilities to implement as the essential details comes much later.
That's according to Christina Scott, Chief Product and Technology Officer of Ovo Energy, speaking exclusively to Computing recently.
"Carrying out the support the government is offering may sound easy, but in practise there's a whole world of complexity. Schemes get announced and the details come later, so there's a scramble in how to deliver them.
"We have to ensure the right security is in place and protect against fraud for instance," Scott added.
She referred to the Energy Bills Support Scheme announced by the government earlier this year, where consumers can apply for funds to help pay bills.
"The scheme was announced in April. We didn't get the details of the mechanisms and reporting we need to provide back until the end of August.
"It's not that we don't know about the scheme, but the audit trail and what's expected of us is opaque. That might not sound like a problem but say for instance you pay for your energy via a pre-paid metre and I don't have your bank details, that means I need to give you a voucher under the scheme.
"So I need a way to ensure it goes to you, and that the person using the voucher is the right person. And we're doing that simultaneously for millions of customers. There are millions of exceptions to be worked though.
"Then there's timings, how long you can take to perform the various steps you have to go through, the reporting, the audit trails."
She did admit however that the government shouldn't be blamed for these issues.
"It's not the government's fault. They're trying to do something in a short space of time and if they don't then it's too late. People need help now."
Scott also talked about the actions Ovo is taking to help its customers.
"It's a positive that for the first time everyone's really thinking about their energy usage. We've developed a product called ‘Energy Tracker' which breaks down your energy usage so you can see how its used in your house, and then it gives you tips on how to use less energy.
"Any energy customers can reduce means they save money. It throws up things like fifteen per cent of the energy appliances use is when they're on standby. When it comes to smart homes the vision would be to provide insight to customers and manage usage on their behalf. That means doing things like charging electronics at the point when the grid has the lowest carbon intensity, and that would also lower tariffs."