June Case Study

Katherine, in her late seventies, lives alone in a small house that she rents from a private landlady. She keeps mostly to herself, due to years of anxiety and PTSD. She doesn’t have an email address or access to the internet and is very concerned about online safety. She pays her energy bill every month and, when her energy supplier suggested that she could reduce her monthly payment, she refused through fear of going into energy debt.

Katherine’s social prescriber referred her to Act on Energy and local community outreach officer, Clare, got in touch to offer an in-home visit. She spoke to Katherine about her fears of going into debt or using too much energy and talked her through some energy costs to help her understand more about energy efficiency and usage. Katherine had not been receiving her energy bill and was unable to set up an online account, so Clare phoned up her energy supplier to find out more about her tariff. It turned out that Katherine was on estimated bills, due to being unable to read the meter, and was over £600 in credit. Clare explained to Katherine that her energy bills had likely been overestimated because she hadn’t been using the heating, so it’s possible she had even more in credit.

Katherine was relieved – she thought for sure that she was using too much energy and never paid enough so, to find out that it was the opposite, helped her understand more about energy costs. Whilst on the phone to Katherine’s supplier, Clare requested that she be sent paper bills monthly to help her keep on top of her account and, with Katherine’s blessing, requested that a smart meter be installed. Katherine had avoided a smart meter due to her PTSD, as she was afraid to have a male engineer in her home. But, after talking with Clare, she said that she was ok for the installation if Clare was with her.

On the day of the smart meter installation, Clare visited Katherine and spoke to the smart meter engineer to lay down the ground rules: he would only be speaking to Clare and that he was to knock when moving from room to room, so that Katherine knew where he was. Over the next two hours, Katherine placed herself in a safe space, under a blanket and chatted to Clare to help calm her nerves. The engineer was respectful, did his work without any issues and left. Katherine was now able to monitor her energy usage to help budget her energy spending.

Clare talked Katherine through how to use her in-home display unit and the different tariff options now available and Katherine felt empowered. The invisible, unknown enemy that was her energy usage, now had a face – she understood it, she could see it and she was in control of it. For the first time in 2 years, Katherine was going to have a bubble bath, filled to the top with warm water, to celebrate.

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