Supporting vulnerable households

Customers are at the heart of what we do. We have a bold ambition to help 500,000 vulnerable customers use energy safely, efficiently and affordably between 2021 and 2026.

Our five-year vulnerability support strategy guides our activity to ensure we’re delivering genuine and valuable impact to those most in need of help to stay safe and warm at home.

We’ve developed an extensive partnership network to help us deliver a comprehensive range of programmes to support vulnerable households up and down the country.

We’re extremely proud of the programmes we’ve created and grateful to the expert partners who support us in going above and beyond for vulnerable households.

Together, we’re keeping our communities safe and warm by providing tailored and targeted support for those who need it most.

Collaborating to support our communities

We believe in a targeted and tailored approach to delivering our vulnerability strategy, allowing us to provide meaningful and lasting support to households most in need across four strategic priority areas.

We drive both local and national initiatives and partnerships to deliver the best outcomes for customers, recognising the power of collaboration to create connections that facilitate lasting change.

Within our portfolio of support, we’ve developed a number of partnerships in collaboration with other gas networks. These programmes allow us to reach some of the priority vulnerability groups we’ve identified in our strategy more effectively and more inclusively than if we were to run the programme alone.

You can find out more about all our initiatives and how you can get involved below.

Providing direct support services to vulnerable customers

Direct ‘beyond the meter’ services for vulnerable households as we go about our day-to-day operational work.

Supporting priority vulnerability groups to access tailored support services

Tailored support services for 10 priority customer groups who are most likely to need trusted help to maintain a safe and warm home: Carers, critically ill people, disabled people, families with young children, financially vulnerable people, digitally and culturally excluded groups, people with mental health conditions, older people, those with health conditions made worse by living in a cold and unhealthy home, and young people.

Targeting geographic communities most at risk of fuel poverty

Targeted support for customers struggling to afford energy in the most vulnerable geographical areas within our networks, identified by our Vulnerability Index data.

Reducing carbon monoxide (CO) harm

A data-driven approach to increase awareness and reduce the risk of carbon monoxide harm among those groups most vulnerable or least aware.

Learn more about how we support vulnerable households

Through the Vulnerability and Carbon Monoxide Allowance (VCMA), we’ve been allocated funding by the energy regulator Ofgem to spend on projects which can support vulnerable customers or raise awareness of carbon monoxide (CO) between 2021 and 2026.