Spotlight addresses the critical issue of supporting vulnerable customers during power outages, a situation that can cause stress, financial strain and disruption to daily life. By integrating these customers into the Priority Services Register (PSR), the initiative ensures they receive crucial support — such as a 24/7 helpline, proactive outage updates, and tailored assistance — when the power goes out.
What is the project about?
Spotlight addresses the challenge of accurately identifying vulnerable customers—Priority Services Register (PSR), Fuel Poor (FP), and Leaving No One Behind (LNB)—on an individual household level, moving beyond the limitations of broad demographic assumptions. By tapping into diverse data sources like telecommunications and finance, the project enhances customer identification precision, ensuring no one is overlooked.
But Spotlight goes further than just identification. It aims to streamline operations by optimising engagement strategies specifically designed for these vulnerable customer groups. By leveraging data insights, the project transforms how operational teams interact with PSR, FP, and LNB customers, selecting the most effective communication channels tailored to the unique needs of each segment.
Ultimately, Spotlight is more than a tool for identifying vulnerable customers; it’s a system that revolutionises how assistance is delivered. By using data-driven insights, it ensures that support is not only more accurate but also personalised, ensuring that each customer receives the right help at the right time.
How we’re doing it
Spotlight will leverage data modelling and machine learning to identify vulnerable customers at a granular level. The project seeks to bring together existing data sources, and bring new ones, into a single platform. Once the data is integrated centrally, it will be processed to enable a data driven approach to supporting vulnerable customers. The data models will be developed to be scalable to any future data that becomes available.
Spotlight’s innovative approach involves advanced clustering, machine learning techniques, and a diverse range of datasets to create a unique classification system for identifying vulnerable customers and those at risk of vulnerability. With the potential for nationwide replication, the project will focus on significantly increasing the granularity of vulnerability data, aiming for household-level insight rather than the current LSOA-level information. The project will target three categories: PSR, FP, and LNB. Spotlight aims to utilise new data modelling methods which have already been partially validated in other industries such as retail, telecoms, and technology. Spotlight seeks to adapt and apply these methods specifically to address customer vulnerability requirements in the electricity distribution sector.
What makes it innovative
Spotlight is a pioneering project that uses data modelling and machine learning to identify vulnerable customers with unparalleled precision. By integrating existing data sources and incorporating new ones into a single platform, Spotlight enables a data-driven approach to better support those in need. The platform will process this data and develop scalable models that can adapt to future information, ensuring long-term flexibility.
The project’s innovative use of advanced clustering and machine learning techniques, combined with a broad array of datasets, creates a unique classification system for identifying vulnerable customers—and those at risk of vulnerability. Unlike current methods that rely on broad LSOA-level data, Spotlight will focus on achieving household-level insights, significantly improving granularity.
Beyond identifying customers, Spotlight aims to predict customer exclusion beyond existing definitions and develop sophisticated engagement strategies, using methods like A/B testing to ensure tailored, effective support. With the potential for nationwide replication, Spotlight is set to transform how we understand and address customer vulnerability, ensuring that no one is left behind.
What we’re learning
Spotlight is a project focused on leveraging data modelling and machine learning to identify vulnerable customers at a granular level. The project seeks to bring together existing data sources, and bring new ones, into a single platform. Once the data is integrated centrally, it will be processed to enable data driven approach to supporting vulnerable customers. The data models will be developed to be scalable to any future data, which becomes available. Spotlight’s innovative approach involves advanced clustering, machine learning techniques, and a diverse range of datasets to create a unique classification system for identifying vulnerable customers and those at risk of vulnerability. With the potential for nationwide replication, the project will focus on significantly increasing the granularity of vulnerability data, aiming for household-level insight rather than the current LSOA-level information. Moreover, the project seeks to predict customer exclusion beyond existing definitions and formulate sophisticated engagement strategies employing methods like A/B testing.
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