Speak, Seek, Save debt advice campaign launches for winter

Energy UK published its Winter 2024 Commitment on 20 November 2024, covering household customers from 1 October 2024 through to 31 March 2025¹. Fifteen suppliers covering almost the entire market are signed up to the commitment, and energy suppliers are partners in the Speak, Seek, Save campaign led by Citizens Advice, which started on 1 October¹.

Energy UK states that suppliers' overall commitments to additional support for customers during winter 2024/2025 stand at over £500 million, on top of statutory obligations such as the Warm Home Discount and Additional Support Credit for prepayment customers¹. Support offered through supplier programmes and funds may include credit on bills or prepayment meters, enhanced debt write-off schemes and hardship funds, funding to charity partners, reduced or waived standing charges over winter for certain customers, and access to energy-saving devices and technology¹. Energy UK says the support on offer will vary by company¹.

The commitment sits against record arrears. Energy UK cites Ofgem data showing £3.7 billion of debt and arrears owed to energy suppliers, an increase of over £1.5 billion since the start of 2023¹. The average household in arrears, meaning those without an arrangement to repay, owes over £1,500 on electricity and over £1,300 on gas¹.

Under the commitment, suppliers will continue to proactively identify and support customers struggling to pay and ensure repayment plans reflect their ability to pay, including payment holidays where appropriate¹. Policies for High Court enforcement and County Court Judgement actions for debt cannot be signed off unless agreed at board level or equivalent¹. Suppliers will fully consider information including budgets, affordable payment offers and prepared Standard Financial Statements, and third-party authority forms, from a customer's chosen credible debt or consumer organisation, including FCA-authorised debt advisors¹. Suppliers can also help customers access Breathing Space, which gives legal protections from creditor action for up to 60 days, or as long as a mental health crisis lasts¹.

Separately, 13 energy suppliers representing more than 95% of UK homes are signed up to the Energy UK Vulnerability Commitment, in place since 2020¹. Energy UK describes it as a voluntary commitment, over and above existing regulation, with signatories scrutinised by an independent panel each year and required to evidence their activities¹. Those signatories commit to only use High Court Enforcement Officers to recover debts where appropriate for a vulnerable customer, and to track how vulnerabilities may change over time to ensure repayment plans are genuinely affordable¹. The panel focused this year on processes to define and identify the most vulnerable customers, innovative routes to affordable repayment plans, and monitoring of prepayment meter customers at risk of self-disconnection¹.

"Energy suppliers want to get the message to all customers that they should never be suffering in silence about energy affordability, and are partners in the Speak, Seek, Save campaign led by Citizens Advice for this winter that started on 1 October."

Campaign information and advice has been translated into ten commonly spoken languages: Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Farsi, Indian Punjabi, Kurdish Sorani, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian and Urdu¹. Citizens Advice and Energy UK have worked with the Government and Ofgem to extend the campaign's reach through charities, consumer groups and organisations such as the Post Office, and have engaged with Scottish consumer groups because support and advice differ from England and Wales¹. Energy UK says the campaign seeks to reach those of pensionable age affected by the removal of the Winter Fuel Payment, and that customers whose ability to heat and run their home is affected by that withdrawal should engage with their energy company at the earliest opportunity¹.

Why it matters for households

The figures set out by Energy UK describe a market where a large number of households are carrying debt into winter, and where the difference between a manageable repayment plan and enforcement action turns on whether a supplier has been told about a household's circumstances. The commitment's practical content is largely about that flow of information: suppliers accepting budgets and Standard Financial Statements prepared by debt advisers, and board-level sign-off before court action. For a household's energy independence, the relevant point is that support is discretionary and varies by supplier, so what is available depends on which company supplies the home and what that company has chosen to fund. The £500 million figure is an industry-wide total, not a per-household entitlement, and Energy UK does not set out how it is divided between suppliers or customers. The Vulnerability Commitment adds specific protections, but only for customers of the 13 signatories, and Energy UK notes it is voluntary rather than a regulatory requirement. Details of individual supplier funds are published by Energy UK rather than in this commitment.

What happens next

The Winter 2024 Commitment applies from 1 October 2024 through to 31 March 2025¹. The Speak, Seek, Save campaign also began on 1 October¹. The 2024 Vulnerability Commitment Good Practice Guide was published on 1 October 2024¹. No end date for the campaign is given in the commitment.

Households in England can find routes to help with energy bills and debt in England, while Citizens Advice and Energy covers its consumer service, complaints and data role. The energy consumer bodies page sets out how Citizens Advice, Consumer Scotland and the Consumer Council divide their remits. Separate guidance covers help with energy bills and debt in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, where the market operates separately. The energy supplier financial resilience rules page explains the regulatory framework that sits behind supplier obligations, and final bills and credit refunds covers what happens to credit balances. For households weighing what debt and support arrangements mean for energy bills and energy independence, the commitment's terms are the relevant reference point this winter.

Sources1 cited

1. Energy UK's Winter 2024 Commitment - Energy UK, energy-uk.org.uk