Combined PAYG M&B Welcome Pack

Welcome to Watkins Energy!

This guide will tell you about your heating system and will help you set up and manage your heat account.

Who are we?

Watkins Energy are your heat metering and billing provider. This means we act on behalf of your heat supplier to remotely measure the amount of heat you use in your home for heating and hot water and then bill you for your heat charges.

We’re not responsible for:

 Setting your heat tariff.

 Operating and maintaining the heat network to supply heat to your home, including the equipment belonging to the heat network which lives in your home.

 Any of your in-home heating or hot water equipment, including your heating programmer, radiators or hot water taps.

Remember:

If you’re struggling with your heating controls and need some help take a look in the library on our website www.watkinsenergy.co.uk, or get in touch with our friendly Customer Care Team who are always happy to help.

What is a heat network?

Your home is connected to a heat network (also known as a district heating or communal heating system) which provides heating and hot water to many homes.

A heat network generates heat in a central location, known as an energy centre, using energy sources with lower CO2 emissions. This means that by living in a home connected to a heat network you’re playing your part to reduce your impact on the environment, helping to tackle climate change.

Heat is distributed from the energy centre to homes connected to the network by highly insulated pipes, supplying heating and hot water to customers whenever it’s needed. This removes the need to install a gas supply and individual boiler to every home.

Heat networks are more energy efficient than fitting individual gas boilers and are more reliable, so require less maintenance.

energy

Primary Network

Secondary Network

Heat Interface

What equipment do you have in your home?

Instead of a gas boiler you have a heat interface unit installed in your home - commonly known as a HIU.

The HIU is installed in your utility cupboard and looks like a boiler. It controls the transfer of heat from the heat network to your home’s central heating system, making heat and hot water available to you instantly, as and when you need it.

Inside the HIU there’s a heat meter. This measures how much heat you use. You’ll also have an in-home display which shows you how much heat you’re using, how much this is costing you and how much credit you have left on your account. You’ll find a user guide for your in-home display in your welcome pack.

To control your heating, you simply need to set the thermostat and heating programmer, as you would with a typical central heating system.

Remember:

If you experience a problem with any of your heating or hot water equipment you’ll need to report this to your heat supplier or housing provider.

Setting up your online account

To set up your online account we’ll need to send an activation link to your email address. This link is unique to you and your account. If we already have your email address, you should receive an email with your activation link shortly after you’ve moved in to your new home or shortly after we’ve taken over as your metering and billing provider. If you’ve not received an email, please get in touch and let us know, we can then update your account with your email address and send you an activation link.

To access your online account just visit our website www.watkinsenergy.co.uk and select ‘My Account’ from the main menu.

Need help setting up your online account?

If you need help setting up your online account please call our Customer Care Team: 0330 324 0018 (local rates apply)

Open Monday to Friday from 8am - 5pm

Once we’ve confirmed your account details and verified that we’re speaking to the right person we’ll be able to help set up your online account.

Your heat tariff

Like a normal gas or electricity tariff, your heat tariff is made up of two charges:

Variable Unit

The unit charge is how much you’ll pay for every kilowatt hour (kWh) of heat you use. This is measured by your heat meter which automatically sends us meter readings so we can bill you accurately. You’ll be able to see how much heat you’ve used and how much this has cost you on your in-home display or by logging in to your online account.

Fixed Standing Charge

The standing charge is a fixed daily charge which generally covers;

 Administration costs for providing metering and billing services,

 Your share of the standing charges for the energy your heat supplier has to buy to power the heat network.

We work with your heat supplier to help calculate your unit charge and standing charge. You can find more information on the heat tariff for your development, including when the tariff was last reviewed and how it was calculated, on our website www.watkinsenergy.co.uk.

Changes to your heat tariff

You’ll always be given 31 days written notice of any changes to your heat tariff and we will only ever make changes to the tariff when instructed by your heat supplier.

How you’ll be charged

In your home you have a prepayment meter. To use your heating and hot water, you need to top up your meter and make sure you always have credit available. We call this ‘Pay As You Go’ (PAYG).

Like a mobile phone, PAYG means you’ll only pay for the heat you use, when you use it, with no bills landing on your doormat at a later date.

To help make sure you don’t run out of credit, your available balance is shown on your in-home display. It also has lots of additional features which you can find out more about in the user guide provided in your welcome pack.

To top up your meter you’ll need your prepayment card number which you’ll find below.

Your prepayment card number:

How to top up

Topping up couldn’t be easier!

To make things easy for you we offer a few different ways to top up. All you need to do is pick the one which best suits you.

Online

Pay anytime that’s convenient to you -24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

Go to watkinsenergypayments.paypoint.com/Energy you can make a one-off payment or set up an account to make it easier for future payments. You’ll need your prepayment card number and a credit or debit card.

Over the phone

You can call our automated payment line to make a payment at any time. Please call 0121 621 0661 and select option 1. You’ll need your prepayment card number and debit or credit card details.

Set up a regular fixed payment

You can set up a regular fixed payment to come out of your account automaticaly on a prearranged schedule. The money will be credited to your meter the same day it’s taken from your account. If you want to set up a regular fixed payment just give us a call and we can do this for you over the phone.

In store

You can top up by visiting any PayPoint outlet. To top up at a PayPoint outlet you’ll need a prepayment card, if this is your preferred payment method then please contact us and we’ll get a prepayment card sent out to you. To find your nearest PayPoint outlet please visit: consumer.paypoint.com

Any top ups you make should show on your available balance within two minutes. If this doesn’t happen, you can manually enter the payment code from your payment receipt into your in-home display. You’ll find instructions on how to do this in the user guide we’ve provided in your welcome pack.

If you need any help or have any questions about how to top up, please get in touch with our Customer Care Team.

What happens if you run out of credit?

If you run out of credit your heat supply will be suspended. This means you won’t be able to use your heating or hot water.

To help you out if you need it, we allow a little bit of reserve credit. We call this emergency credit and friendly hours credit .

What is emergency credit?

If you run out of credit before you get a chance to top up, you’ll have access to £5 emergency credit. This is effectively a loan to stop you from being without heating or hot water for a short period of time, until you’re able to next top up. Once your emergency credit has run out your supply will be suspended until you add credit to your meter.

When you next top up, we’ll automatically deduct any money used from your emergency credit from the money you use to top up your meter. This means you’ll need to add enough credit to pay for the emergency credit that you used, plus the amount you want to have available on your meter. We can then continue your normal supply.

What is friendly hours credit?

If you run out of credit outside our normal working hours, which are Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm excluding Bank Holidays, your supply won’t be suspended. However, if you don’t top up before 9am the next working day, when friendly hours credit ends, your supply will be immediately suspended until you top up and have credit on your meter.

Remember:

If you run out of credit on your meter we’ll continue to charge the daily standing charge even if your heat supply is suspended.

Each year we’ll send you an annual statement showing:

 The total amount of heat you used over the year, based on actual readings from your heat meter,

 Your total charges for the year, including the standing charge and unit charge,

 Total payments made by you, and

 Details of any outstanding charges.

Where possible we’ll also include a comparison with how much heat you used in the previous year.

What to do if you dispute a bill or charge

If you disagree with a charge, or if you have any questions about your charges, please contact us within 14 days from the date of the charge in question and we’ll work with you to resolve the issue.

We aim to solve most billing queries within two weeks. If we think your query will take longer to deal with, we’ll explain this to you. In the meantime, you must continue to pay.

Struggling to pay?

If you’re having trouble paying, don’t be tempted to put off getting in touch with us to let us know. The sooner we know you’re struggling, the easier it’ll be to help you to get back on track.

Contact our Customer Care Team using the contact details provided on page 19 as early as you can to discuss your options.

The below tips may help you reduce your consumption and save you money, as well as helping to reduce your impact on the environment:

 Provided your warm enough, turn down your thermostat by one degree.

 Learn how to set your heating programmer so your heating’s only on when you need it.

 Take a quick shower instead of running a hot bath.

 Turn down the radiator thermostats in rooms you don’t use.

 Don’t block your radiators with furniture or dry laundry on them.

You can find more information and energy efficiency tips on our website at: www.watkinsenergy.co.uk/energyefficiency

Looking for independent financial advice?

An independent service set up by the Government to help people make the most of their money.

Call Money Helper for free:

Telephone: 0800 138 7777

Typetalk: 18001 0800 915 4622

Or visit their website to use their web chat facility: www.moneyhelper.org.uk

Step Change are a debt charity providing free debt advice online to help get your finances back on track. They will provide support for as long as it’s needed. www.stepchange.org

If you’d prefer, you can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Call Citizens Advice for free:

Advice line - 0800 144 8848

Debt line - 0800 240 4420

Visit their website to use their web chat facility

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Find your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau on their website www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us

Maintenance and repairs

We’re responsible for making sure your heat meter and in-home display works correctly. If there are any issues with your heat meter we’ll contact you and arrange an appointment to fix the problem.

If you think there is something wrong with your heat meter or in-home display please get in touch with us straight away to let us know so we can look into it for you.

If we need to visit your home to carry out any repairs to your heat meter, our engineers will always carry photo ID. This will help protect you against fraudulent callers.

We will always try to keep any appointments we make with you. However, if we agree an appointment with you and our engineer fails to turn up, or we fail to give you 24 hours notice to cancel or change the appointment, you will be entitled to compensation - what we call a Guaranteed Service Payment.

Remember:

If you make an appointment with us and can’t keep it, you must phone our Customer Care Team to let us know by midday the day before the appointment. If you don’t let us know you may be charged a missed appointment fee.

Moving home?

You need to give us at least 10 days written notice of your moving date so we can arrange closing your account. You won’t need to provide us with a final meter reading as we can read your meter remotely. We’ll take a final reading on the day you move out and use this to produce your final statement. You’ll need to provide us with a forwarding address, as we may need to communicate with you about your account after you’ve moved.

To make it quick and easy for you to let us know you’re moving, we’ve made a simple moving home form which you’ll find on our websitewww.watkinsenergy.co.uk/movinghome.

If you’d prefer, you can call us and speak to one of our Customer Care Team.

We’ll issue you a final statement within 6 weeks of your moving date. If we can’t issue a final statement within 6 weeks, we’ll explain why and issue it within 31 days of the date on which we have all the information that we need to produce your final statement.

What happens if you have credit on your meter?

If you have any credit on your meter when your account is closed, we’ll refund this to you within 10 days of your moving date.

Recognising amazing service

It’s always nice to receive positive feedback from happy customers.

If you receive amazing service and want to share your experience, please get in touch. We’ll be sure to pass on your thanks and make sure the team know what a great job they’ve have done.

Keeping your information safe

We understand that your privacy is important and will always make sure the highest levels of security are applied to keep your information safe. All data is protected and any data that is transferred is always sent over secure connections. We only ever store data that is needed to deliver your heating services.

Further information can be found in our Data Protection and Privacy Policy, which is available in the library section of our website.

Whatever you need, we’re here to help. Get in touch today to talk to one of our friendly Customer Care Team

0330 324 0018 (local rates apply)

Monday to Friday 8am - 5pm, Emergencies 24/7/365

help@watkinsenergy.co.uk

www.watkinsenergy.co.uk

By writing to us at; Faraday House, 1 Faraday Close Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 9BH

For more information about our services check out our website which has lots of useful infomation, tips and answers to frequently asked questions.

Amazing service, it’s in our

Dependable Non-Judgmental Ambitious

We will:

 be friendly, helpful and make it easy for you to get in touch so we can provide help when you need it.

 do what we say, giving clear timescales and making sure we stick to them. If anything changes, we’ll let you know.

 act fast and aim to fix any problems as quick as we can.

 investigate any complaints thoroughly, admit when we’re wrong, apologise and work with you to put things right.

 price our service fairly and make sure that we bill you accurately, resolving any discrepancies quickly should they arise.

We will:

 treat all customers equally.

 always be polite and respectful.

 be understanding of the diverse needs of our customers.

 provide additional support for customers in vulnerable situations.

 try to place ourselves in your shoes, making sure we truly hear and understand what you’re saying, allowing you to speak freely and comfortably without feeling that you’re being judged.

 treat all personal information provided confidentially and in accordance with our Data Protection and Privacy Policy and relevant legislation.

 give you a point of contact who understands your needs.

We will:

 measure ourselves on how well we meet our commitments and continue to look for ways to improve our services.

 learn from what we do well and use this to help continue to improve the service we provide.

 learn from our mistakes and make sure we don’t repeat them.

 continue to look at ways to innovate and reduce our impact on the environment.

 continue to support the work of the Government and trade bodies to develop regulation for heat networks to help protect consumers.

Priority Services Registration Form

Tick the boxes if any of the following apply to you or anyone living in your home;

Temporary - Life changes Review date

Temporary - Post hospital recovery Review date

Non-English speaking (please confirm language)

Other (please provide details)

Password scheme;

Anyone we send to your door will always carry an ID card to confirm who they are. If you’d like extra security to protect you from fraudulant callers please choose a password and write it below in block capital letters. Whenever we send anyone to your home they’ll be able to tell you the password before you let them in.

Nominee scheme;

If you’d like to nominate a family member or carer to act on your behalf please provide their details below. We’ll need you to sign the form to give your consent for us to discuss your account with them. We’ll also need a signature from them to confirm they’re happy to act on your behalf. Once we’ve received written confirmation from both parties, we’ll use them as our main point of contact.

Name:

Address:

Town or City:

Email:

Relationship to you:

Signature and declaration

Nominated representative

Postcode:

Contact number:

Signature and declaration Account holder

Declaration; I confirm that the details I have given are true and correct. I give permission for you and other organisations acting on your behalf to securely store and use my personal details so that you can provide me with priority services. I understand that, by law, you’re allowed to use my personal details once I give my permission.

We may contact you or your nominated representative to discuss any of the information provided in this form. If you’ve provided details for a nominated representative, you’re giving your explicit consent for us to talk to them on your behalf. This may mean we share information with them about you and your heat supply until you tell us that you no longer wish them to act as your nominated representative. We confirm that we won’t use or pass your details to a third party for marketing purposes.

Your in-home display is an easy to use touch screen device that will help you manage your heat account.

Your in-home display user guide

This handy guide will help you understand how to use and make the most of your in-home display.

Your in-home display will help you manage your heat account by keeping an eye on:

 Your available credit balance

 How much heat you’re using

 How much you’re paying, and

 Your top up history

We can also use your in-home display to send you useful messages, for example if we need to let you know that we’re doing planned maintenance to the heat network which may interrupt your heat supply.

Main menu 1.

You’ll find a number of icons in the menu.

You can find out more about the function of each icon in this guide. We’ve highlighted below the pages you’ll need to look at in this guide to find out more.

Understanding the main display

You can access the main display by selecting the ‘Heat’ icon from the menu.

On the main display you’ll find:

1. Network connection status

2. Menu button - press this to access the main menu

3. Payment history – showing last 5 top ups

4. Message icon 2 .

5. Indicator to show the mode that the meter is operating in:

P – Prepayment

E – Emergency credit

F – Friendly credit

6. Unit selection button –press this to move between your account information (A/C), or consumption information in kilowatt hours (kWh) or CO2

3.

How to check your account balance and heat tariff

1. You can check your balance from the main display in the ‘Heat’ screen.

You’ll be able to see your balance on the right hand side of the screen, when this was last updated and how long we think this should last you. You’ll need to keep an eye on this to make sure you don’t run out of credit. To help remind you when to top up you can set a low credit alert, to find out how to do this take a look at page 14.

On the left hand side of the screen you’ll see details of the last 5 payments you made.

2. How to check your heat tariff

By going into the Menu and selecting the ‘Tariff’ icon you’ll be able to see details of your heat tariff.

Using your in-home display to manage your consumption 4.

1. How to view current usage

Touch A/C on the ‘Heat’’ screen to see how much heat you’re using in near real-time. This is shown in kilowatt hours (kWh). You can also see how much your heat use is costing you per hour (£/h) or how much CO2 this is creating (CO2kg). Use the ‘Unit’ selection button to choose which of these you want to see, changing the unit will also change the unit for the information shown on the left hand side of the screen so they’re the same.

On the left hand side of the screen you’ll see your energy consumption graph for the day, which will also show a comparison with the previous day so you can see how your usage compares.

If you’ve set a daily usage target you’ll also be able to see how you’re doing against your target.

2. How to view your historical usage

From the main Menu icon you’ll need to select the History icon. This will let you see your half-hourly usage pattern over the past 24 hours in a graph.

Use the Hour icon to change the display to see your hourly or daily usage. 01.01.20 History

When in the History screen, use the arrows on either side to scroll backwards and forwards through the data. The screen will also show your total daily usage and how this compares with your daily usage target, if you’ve set one.

3. Setting up your daily usage target

To help keep your heat use under control, you can set your own daily target for how much heat you’d like to use. Find out how to set your own daily usage target on page 14.

Manually adding a top up

To manually add a top up which hasn’t automatically been credited to your account you’ll need a payment receipt with a payment reference number.

Select the ‘Account’ icon from the main menu to access the payment screen. In the transaction screen enter the vend code number printed on your payment receipt.

Type in the number from the vend code token. Press delete to correct. Press enter when complete. Once you’ve entered the number a notification will pop up on the screen to tell you that your top up has been successful.

01.01.20 Transaction 14:25

Type in your vend code. Press ‘delete’ to correct. Press ‘enter when complete

How to activate your emergency credit

You can activate Emergency Credit (E-Credit) either from the Low Credit or Zero Credit warning screens. Once the credit in your account reaches the Low Credit threshold, E-Credit will be made available for you to activate.

NO CREDIT

If you decide not to activate E-Credit, a second warning screen will appear when you have run out of credit. This will give you another opportunity to activate E-Credit.

If you press Ignore on the above ‘SUPPLY OFF ’ warning screen, then your supply will be suspended and the ‘Heat’ screen will show ‘SUPPLY OFF ’ and the minimum top-up amount.

To activate E-Credit just press the E-Credit button on either of the warning screens.

Press ‘E-Credit’ to use Emergency Credit ‘Ignore’ to continue CREDIT = £0.00 SUPPLY OFF

Once activated, the ‘SUPPLY OFF’ message on the home screen will be replaced with the ‘E-CREDIT ON’ message

Remember:

We allow a £5 emergency credit faciiity to stop you from being without heating or hot water for a short period of time, until you’re next able to top up. Once your emergency credit has run out your supply will be suspended until you add credit to your meter. When you next top up, we’ll automatically deduct any money used from your emergency credit from the money you use to top up your meter. This means you’ll need to add enough credit to pay for the emergency credit that you used, plus the amount you want to have available on your meter.

How to read your messages 7.

If you have a new message the icon will appear in the top right-hand corner of the Home screen. Touch the icon to see the message page as shown below.

You can also access your messages from the Menu by selecting the icon.

Press ‘View’ to see each message.

This message is to remind you that your new heat tariff will be effective from tomorrow.

Personalising settings on your in-home display 8.

By selecting the ‘Settings’ icon from the Menu you can personalise a number of settings on your in-home display, including your low credit alarm threshold and daily consumption target.

How to set a daily consumption target

You’ll need to select the ‘Target’ icon. By setting a daily consumption target you will be able to see on your consumption graphs if your consumption is above or within your target level. Take a look at page 7 for more information.

Please set your daily targets per day

Low credit warning threshold

In ‘Target’ you’ll also be able to change your low credit warning threshold. You can also turn on ‘Sound’ so you get an audible alarm. 14

0330 324 0018 (local rates apply)

Monday to Friday 8am - 5pm, Emergencies 24/7/365

help@watkinsenergy.co.uk

www.watkinsenergy.co.uk By writing to us at; Faraday House, 1 Faraday Close Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN22 9BH

For more information about our services check out our website which has lots of useful infomation, tips and answers to frequently asked questions.

Not happy with the service you’ve received? How to make a complaint

We always put our customers first and pride ourselves on delivering excellent service. However, sometimes things can go wrong. If this happens, we want to make it quick and easy for you to get in touch so we can put things right and get our relationship back on track.

What you can expect from us

If you need to let us know about any issues with the service you’ve received, we’ll make sure we:

 Make it easy for you to get in touch with us.

 Respond quickly and try to resolve any issues the first time you contact us.

 Clearly explain the action we’re taking and provide timescales for fixing the problem.

 Keep you updated on our progress throughout the complaints process.

 Always try to make sure that your complaint is dealt with from start to finish by the same person.

 Provide an explanation of what went wrong, do everything we can to put things right and apologise if we’ve made a mistake.

 Always treat you fairly.

Contacting us

You can contact us using any of the following:

0330 324 0018

Monday to Friday 8am - 5pm

help@watkinsenergy.co.uk

Using our online complaints form www.watkinsenergy.co.uk/complaints

By writing to us at;

Faraday House

1 Faraday Close Eastbourne East Sussex

BN22 9BH

Remember, if you contact us by phone, we’ll often be able to resolve the problem for you there and then.

Need help with making a complaint?

If you can’t make the complaint yourself, or simply want the support of others, you can nominate a family member, friend, or other representative to deal with your complaint.

You’ll need to get in touch with us to let us know the name and contact details of your nominated representative. We’ll make a note of this and make sure we communicate with them when handling your complaint.

What information will we need?

For us to investigate your complaint you’ll need to provide us with the following information:

 Your name, address and contact details.

 Your preferred method of contact.

 Details of the problem with any supporting evidence, including the date and time if your complaint relates to a particular incident.

What steps will we take to resolve your complaint and put things right?

Once we’ve received your complaint, we’ll get back to you within 2 working days to let you know that it’s been passed on to one of our specialist Customer Care Advisors to investigate for you.

You’ll be given a unique reference number to help us identify and track the progress of your complaint.

Within 10 working days of receiving your complaint, we’ll contact you to let you know the outcome of our investigation and to offer a solution to put things right.

What to do if you’re still unhappy

We hope you’ll be satisfied with how we’ve handled your complaint. If not, contact us and tell us that you’d like your complaint to be reviewed by a senior manager.

A senior manager will carry out an internal review of how your complaint was handled and the solution you were offered. They’ll decide if the outcome was fair and reasonable in the circumstances.

We’ll get back to you within 10 working days to let you know the outcome. If we find that your complaint hasn’t been handled in the way we’d have liked, a new solution may be offered.

If you still aren’t satisfied, or if your complaint hasn’t been fully resolved within 8 weeks, you can ask for a deadlock letter. The deadlock letter will recap what’s happened, what we’ve suggested and explain that we haven’t been able to reach an agreement.

Once you have your deadlock letter you’ll be able to refer your complaint to an independent organisation, such as Citizens Advice Bureau.