Data project highlights social tariff support often goes to the wrong customers

Water companies are giving social tariff support to the wrong customers in many instances.

That was among the findings from the Water4All project, funded through Ofwat’s innovation fund, led by Sagacity Solutions. The project applies advanced analytics and machine learning to correlate a range of data sources, such as age, household composition and income, to determine whether a customer is eligible for support.

The project consortium has published findings from its proof of concept phase, which involved the analysis of 300,000 anonymised records from Southern Water. This found that many customers are not in receipt of the support they are eligible for.

For instance, of the 15,000 customers potentially eligible for Pension Credit:

• one in four do not claim them and 63% are not on a social tariff – with almost one in five (16%) living in poverty without either Pension Credit or social tariff support in place;

• 22% of those classified as being in "severe difficulty" (those with significant indicators of ongoing financial distress) aren’t on a social tariff, when they need help the most; and

• 35% are claiming for a social tariff, despite being able to manage their finances and showing no signs of financial difficulty.

The consortium has now applied for follow on funding from Ofwat for a second phase, which would widen the scope of the solution to build a solid framework for proactive, targeted support.