The Citizens Advice Service (Citizens Advice – England & Wales and Citizens Advice Scotland) commissioned the Centre for Sustainable Energy to conduct research on the energy tariff options for consumers in vulnerable situations. The project aimed to provide researchers, policy makers and energy market stakeholders with a better understanding of the range of options available to ensure that vulnerable consumers, disengaged from the energy market, are not penalised by higher tariffs.
The research was structured into two main phases:
- Phase 1 was an initial review of ten tariff options, drawing on both existing evidence and expert stakeholder opinion.
- Phase 2 involved modelling and analysis to explore the potential distributional impacts of options deemed worthy of further exploration, following the analysis in Phase 1.
The full research report can be downloaded below, which contains the results of both phases of the research, including conclusions and recommendations that could reduce the energy bills of those vulnerable consumers struggling to heat and power their homes.