Introducing “Jan’s” story and why EPCAS matters

This is “Jan’s” story. This is one example of why the EPCAS (‘Improving Equality and Empowerment through Person-Centred Energy Advice Service’) project matters.

Jan is in her early 40s and has a son aged 20. She has been unemployed since her mental health deteriorated about 2 years ago when she become homeless. She was rehoused in a housing association tenancy but has been struggling to cope with bills and is in hundreds of pounds of debt to her energy supplier.

Jan contacted Energy Advocacy Renfrewshire (EAR) for help to apply for Warm Home Discount after a friend told her about it. An Energy Advocate visited her home and helped her to apply for Warm Home Discount (WHD). He also applied to a Trust Fund to have her debt written off.

Jan was delighted about the Trust Fund application because she didn’t even know that existed. However, the process of applying for WHD and the Trust Fund was not straightforward. It required that she shared a lot of personal data, found hard copies of official letters and gave permissions over the phone.

In short the Energy Advocates are doing their best to achieve results for people like Jan in the face of systems where data flows are designed around organisations and not around her. At best, the Energy Advocacy journey requires Jan to give information she has already shared with other agencies again. At worst, the Energy Advocacy journey is upsetting for Jan as she has to be in the room to verify her identify and give permission on the phone but then listen to her own story relayed back to a Trust Fund.

Furthermore, the Energy Advocate’s work is not done. Next Autumn, at a date that can change every year and is different for each energy supplier, Jan will have to apply for Warm Home Discount again, if she is still eligible. She will not get a reminder from her supplier, so the team of Energy Advocates has to get in contact with hundreds of people like Jan every year to remind them. There are also some pitfalls that Energy Advocates help citizens like Jane to avoid. For example not all suppliers offer WHD and you can loose your WHD if you move supplier after you have applied in a year.

The EPCAS project will demonstrate the difference that designing data flows around citizens like Jan can make. We will be creating the means for Energy Advocates and citizens to collect and share relevant data with the right organisations to make it easier, less stressful, and more secure to achieve tasks like applying for WHD and debt write-off.