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In its response to the Scottish Government's principles of charging for investment period 2021-27, Citizens Advice Scotland has called on the Scottish Government:

• To commit to the principle of affordable charges for all
• For responsive, robust and sustainable affordability policy that adequately protects low income households
• To ensure debt recovery achieves a balance between revenue collection and consumer protection as part of Scottish Water's developing ethical framework and its work with local authorities

196,000 people in Scotland are not connected to the public water supply, and rely on a private supply for drinking water. Water quality in private supplies can be poor. Those responsible for the supply must cover the full burden and cost of ensuring that they are treated, monitored, and maintained correctly. The majority of private supplies are rural or remote rural.

Fairer pricing, clear and accurate billing and better support for people in vulnerable situations are at the heart of Citizen Advice Scotland’s (CAS) priorities for the energy market in Scotland which are summarised in this report. 

With the retail market facing potential changes in the coming years, with OVO energy’s recent takeover of SSE retail energy business, as well as the Scottish Government’s proposal for a Public Energy Company, the charity has published a report on priorities for customers.

This report draws upon evidence and insights from our frontline advisers in Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABs) across Scotland and the Extra Help Unit (EHU). It highlights cases from our CABs in six thematic areas which are crucial to consumers.

CAS six key consumer priorities are: 

• Fair pricing and debt support; so customers aren't shocked by sudden increases in costs and the ability to pay is central to any debt repayment scheme.
• Ease of contact; so customers aren’t left in the dark or hanging on the phone about their service or bills
• Clear and accurate billing; to allow customers to understand how charges have been calculated, and to stop people accruing debt through no fault of their own
• Easy access to the Warm Home Discount; to help more people with the cost of energy
• Better support for vulnerable consumers; particularly accurate meter reads to prevent bill shocks
• Offering choice for consumers on restricted electricity meters; to challenge fuel poverty for consumers off the gas grid

The report also summarises a review undertaken for CAS around consumer engagement in the energy market in Scotland and makes a number of recommendations on how fuel poor households may be supported. This review is available on request. 

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) believe the Universal Credit (UC) system must change if the benefit is to work for citizens across Scotland and the rest of the UK. CAS has consistently sought to work with the government to address the problematic aspects of the UC system. In this Budget submission, CAS sets out two policy recommendations that would improve UC for people in-work.

Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) data, including Citizen Alerts (cases from local CAB), have shown clear issues for people who are working and on UC. Particularly, that people are often working and living with an income that is too low to meet the cost of living. Ensuring that UC makes work pay was central to the original policy aims of UC. However, this is not the reality for people who are working, are on UC and are finding themselves accessing CAB for financial advice.

To improve UC for people in-work, CAS calls on the government to announce two key changes in the forthcoming Budget:

1.   Introduce a Work Allowance for all claimants

2.   Reduce the Taper Rate to allow workers to keep more of what they earn

CAS is publishing its Market Pulse report which has tracked the attitudes of consumers in Scotland over three years on a range of issues, finding 

• 12 per cent of consumers rating their bills as unaffordable 
• A fall in consumers using the traditional Big Six suppliers with consumers moving to smaller suppliers, often because of lower prices
• A decrease in people using electricity to heat their homes and an increase in people using gas, laying out the challenges in the energy market as policy makers move to decarbonise heat and meet climate emissions targets
• Almost half of consumers could qualify for extra support through the Priority Service Register – but only a quarter of consumers are actually enrolled. 

The report is available for download below. The data is also available on request. 

Citizens Advice Scotland welcomes the opportunity to respond to the consultation. Advice on disability benefits and mobility are among the most common areas of advice provided by Scotland’s CAB network. In 2018-19, Scottish CAB provided advice to clients on 47,133 issues related to the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and 5,050 related to the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) mobility element.

This is CAS' response to the Economy, Energy and Fair Work Committee's call for view on local energy and electric vehicles, as part of their Energy Inquiry. CAS acknowledges the central role that locally-owned energy and electric vehicles have to play in the transition to low carbon, in line with climate change targets but we emphasise the need to protect consumers in the transition from unaffordably high fuel bills, scams and lack of redress, especially those who are vulnerable to these changes.