1. Naomi Creutzfeldt / Chris Gill
Access to justice for vulnerable and energy poor consumers in the European energy market: setting the scene
SLSA Bristol
March 2018
Naomi Creutzfeldt / Chris Gill

2. Our project
ESRC ‘justenergy’ project Investigating access to justice for vulnerable and energy poor consumers in the European energy market

3. Research questions
Has the shift towards alternative dispute resolution (ADR) resulted in more accessible justice for vulnerable and energy poor consumers?
ADR has potential to help, but is it being used by those who need it most?
How does broader consumer protection context (regulation, advice, enforcement) help or hinder access to justice?
In other words have there been in access to justice gains from the shift to consumer ADR. Or have we simply transferred the same set of complainants from courts to ADR?
So we are interested in the extent to which ADR schemes are used vulnerable groups.

4. The energy sector is an important site at which access to justice, ADR and vulnerability intersects.
This is why we are looking at the energy sector
Also an area where there is mandated

5. Overarching themes 1. Access to justice and ADR
2. Vulnerability and energy poverty
3. Designing justice

6. 1. ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND ADR
criticism of the formal justice system
challenging the aspirations of ADR
informal justice
criticism of the formal justice system and the extent to which it provides accessible redress for ordinary consumers, let alone those who are more vulnerable
challenging the aspirations of ADR to be accessible for all and the uncritical acceptance of those claims
Assuming that features of informal justice will naturally promote accessibility and a concern for vulnerability

7. 2. VULNERABILITY AND ENERGY POVERTY
many dimensions to vulnerability …
A vulnerable consumer is someone ‘who, as a result of socio-demographic characteristics, behavioural characteristics, personal situation, or market environment:
Is at higher risk of experiencing negative outcomes in the market;
Has limited ability to maximize their well-being;
Has difficulty in obtaining or assimilating information;
Is less able to buy, choose or access suitable products; or
Is more susceptible to certain marketing practices.’

8. Drivers of consumer vulnerability
Market-related
Behavioral drivers
situational drivers
access-related drivers
demographic characteristics
Market-related drivers are especially important, in particular being unable to read contract terms and conditions and being disengaged from markets (e.g. in terms of not knowing contract conditions, or not reading communications);
Behavioral drivers also have important effects, in particular more impulsive consumers are, on the whole, more likely to be vulnerable on several dimensions while consumers who are willing to take risks are generally less vulnerable;
Among the situational drivers, finding it difficult to make ends meet and having friends who cannot make ends meet are found to be especially important.
Among the access-related drivers, using the internet less frequently than once a month is linked to consumer vulnerability on several dimensions.
Some demographic characteristics, such as both young and old age and having a mother tongue different to the official language, are linked to consumer vulnerability.

9. Different dimensions & categories of vulnerability
vulnerability connects different spheres of everyday life:
social welfare, housing, and health

10. Location of the research
European Energy Sector – energy poverty
Typically measured through indicators;
limited availability of appropriate data and indicators;
lack of consensus on how energy poverty should be conceptualised and measured.

11. A comparative approach
Embracing the multidimensional, situational (transient, temporal), and structural (permanent, spatial) dimensions of vulnerability we apply the energy cultures framework to our case studies.
UK / Germany / France / Belgium / Catalonia / Bulgaria

12. Energy cultures framework
Stephenson et al 2015

13. Energy justice
Energy justice has emerged as a new crosscutting social science agenda which seeks to apply justice principles to energy policy, energy production and systems, energy consumption, energy activism, energy security and climate change.

14. 3. DESIGNING JUSTICE
What kind of consumer ADR design would genuinely be accessible to vulnerable populations?  
We hope to find contrasting models e.g.
Catalonia – public ombuds with human rights focus deals with energy disputes
UK – not-for-profit private company dealing with a range of consumer issues deals with energy disputes
Central v local models, contrasting local procedures (e.g. company ombuds), contrasting “outreach” approaches
Early stages but one interesting approach is the UK’s Extra Help Unit
Advocacy service (referral only) which only deals with vulnerable consumers and negotiates on their behalf with firms
Dilemmas for consumer ADR:
‘user-focus’ – making service fit for current users
‘non-user focus’ – attracting non traditional users

15. Designing justice (cont.)
Improving outcomes for vulnerable:
Get more people to participate and use ADR/ access redress
Proactively identify and fix problems
Is the role of consumer ADR changing?
“Downstream” intervention with businesses (consultancy/ advice models)
A regulator of businesses’ internal dispute resolution (e.g. UK ombuds work on big data, algorithms, and fairness)
Is technology part of the solution or the problem?
Complaint services/ apps like Resolver
Digital exclusion