Blog

When we launched our campaign to raise awareness about the plight certain customers faced as energy prices rocketed, we never dreamed it would reach as many people as it did.

We had discovered a loophole which meant customers on a communal heating system in blocks of flats were not classed as domestic customers and therefore not protected by the price cap.

We knew immediately that this was a huge issue, affecting residents who Ginger Energy invoice and potentially up to half a million other people across the UK.

Action needed to be taken – and we took it upon ourselves to launch a petition alongside the campaign, calling on Ofgem to extend the price cap to protect those affected.

We were delighted when the media and the rest of the industry also recognised this was an issue that needed urgent action. We were blown away by the number of media outlets who picked it up – we ended up with over 110 links to coverage, not just in the UK, but across the world, in around two weeks.

Among the most high-profile media outlets that picked up the story were: The Sun; Martin Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert site; The Guardian (we made the cover story in the Money section); Yahoo Finance; The One Show and Radio 4.

It was a steep learning curve for us as we were thrust into the media spotlight; but we know our subject well and it was fantastic to be given such high-profile platforms to share our concerns and our expertise our do what we could to help leasehold residents who were affected.

The coverage highlighted that at Ginger Energy, we are experts in the market, and many of our industry colleagues contacted us to ask questions and get further information.

We were invited to talk to representatives at the Association of Decentralised Energy, the department of Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and Ofgem to highlight our concerns.

Chris Felgate, our director of client services, was also asked to talk at the Housing Quality Network about the importance of good energy procurement for sites that have a heat network.

We had a hugely positive reaction from residents and our clients who saw we were acting in their interests and speaking up for them. Competitors and industry representatives also recognised that we had uncovered a real issue that needed to be dealt with by the regulator.

But while the campaign to raise awareness has been a huge success in the media, the issue itself has not gone away.

We are still battling to get something done about this – and we need your help. Our petition is still live and can be signed at https://www.change.org/p/ofgem-make-the-energy-price-cap-wider-reaching. Prices are not set to drop anytime soon so we encourage all leasehold residents who live in a block with a communal supply which heats or provides power inside their homes to add your name and help us in the fight against fuel poverty.