Helping our customers achieve Net Zero

We are one of the biggest UK energy suppliers with 3.7 million residential and business customers.

We aim to be part of the solution to the affordability crisis and we have a long-standing commitment to helping vulnerable and fuel-poor households.

Our goals

By 2030, we will help customers avoid 5MtCO2e per annum through low-carbon solutions we help them to install, including smart meters, EV chargers, heat pumps and solar PVs.

In 2023, we’re investing more than £200 million to help our customers save cash and carbon with smarter and innovative solutions.

Watch video: Customers - Helping Britain achieve Net Zero

Helping customers through the energy crisis

We’re helping our customers use less energy and save on their energy bills.

To help our customers, we have introduced the following extra support services:

  • Fresh Start: We clear existing debt up to £2,000 for vulnerable customers in debt for more than 45 days. We offered over 9,000 measures since mid-2022.
  • Helping Hands: We offer weekly £10 automatic top up contributions for up to 6 months for vulnerable customers. We offered over 5,000 measures since mid-2022.
  • Take Control: We proactively engaged with 100,000 vulnerable customers ahead of the 2022/2023 winter to make a direct offer of financial support.

Energy Bills Support Scheme

We have successfully delivered more than 2.5 million first payments of the Government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme to household energy accounts so far, as part of the support available to households. Under the scheme, all customers received £400 off their energy bills made in six instalments between October 2022 and March 2023. Click here for more information.

Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) and Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS)

The Government introduced the EBRS in September 2022, then the EBDS in April 2023 to support business customers with discounts on gas and electricity prices. We quickly mobilised to ensure our customers understood how the EBRS (and subsequent EBDS) would be implemented and what this would mean for their business, delivering a wide range of content explaining the scheme and updates. Click here for more information.  

ECO+

We also contributed to the development of the Great British Insulation Scheme or ECO+ through government consultation. ECO+ provides a further £1 billion in funding over the next three years to support the installation of energy efficiency measures in the most vulnerable households, as well as to a broader group of customers, widening the eligibility criteria for households that can benefit from energy efficiency measures. Click here to find more about ECO+.

Smart Debt Campaign

We are helping vulnerable customers through the Smart Debt Campaign to provide them with £100 bill credit if they have a smart meter installed. We helped over 9,000 customers in 2022 and already 6,000 in 2023 to reduce their debt and control their energy use with smart meters. 

Support to SMEs

We also launched new support for small and medium business customers impacted by high energy costs. We identified 15,000 customers to contact and offer new contracts on lower prices that cover a longer period, to help reduce their costs. To provide additional support for customers, we have doubled the number of our SME business customer advisors. Eligible customers, ranging from independent shops, hairdressers and small factories, are identified as being especially exposed to the impacts of the energy crisis due to a combination of having high fixed prices and being high energy users.

Pre-payment meters

In April 2023 we signed up to the Ofgem Code of Practice on pre-payment meters. Since the beginning of February 2023, we have not installed prepayment meters under warrant, in line with Ofgem request for moratorium. Ofgem requested that the moratorium remain in place until the end of May 2023, at which point they will review again. We are working with Ofgem, government, suppliers and consumer groups to demonstrate procedures are fair and compliant.  

EDF Business Solutions (EBS)

We help businesses and public sector achieve Net Zero.

Watch video: On the road to Net Zero with TEC and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Solar panels on University of Wales’s rooftops

In partnership with The Energy Consortium (TEC), we have helped the University of Wales Trinity Saint David to install solar panels on multiple rooftops. 

Long term solar PPA with Luxcara

We entered into a solar PPA with Luxcara, one of the most experienced clean infrastructure asset managers in Europe. 

Corporate PPA with NatWest

We signed a Corporate PPA with major retail and commercial bank, NatWest, which will benefit from 49.99MW of renewable from Porth Wen Solar Farm located in North Wales. 

Innovation

We participate in various innovation projects to advance solutions that help customers save cash and carbon.

Our research and development (R&D) team is engaged in projects across all energy aspects including Nuclear, Climate Change, Offshore Wind, Energy Systems, Flexibility & Storage, Zero Emissions Mobility, Low Carbon Hydrogen and Smart Digital Technologies.

Our R&D team is driven by two goals: improving performance in all the company’s current activities and preparing for the energy future by exploring breakthrough technologies or business opportunities.

FLASH (Flexibility Assets and Smart Homes)

We are leading Phase 1 of project FLASH to demonstrate how domestic flexibility (energy storage assets) can help support the grid by managing variations in renewable generation, reducing electricity bills, unlocking clean energy and reducing our carbon footprint. Phase 1 is a feasibility study, which could lead to a Phase 2 Demonstrator. We are taking a customer-centric approach to developing propositions, complemented by modelling to understand the value to consumers and the system.

One-stop Heat Pump App

We are leading a consortium supported by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)’s Heat Pump Ready Programme to allow customers to easily choose the right heat pump for their property. Customers will use a single platform, the One-stop Heat Pump App, which will guide them through the heat pump process, providing detailed technical support before, during and after the installation. It will help customers overcome any lack of technical knowledge and embrace the new technology through an easy-to-follow digital solution. 

Discover more

Find out how we're helping Britain achieve Net Zero