The Priority Services Register (PSR) is a free support service run by energy suppliers that makes sure extra help is available to people who are vulnerable. Ofgem designed the PSR to ensure that people with vulnerabilities have access to additional support. The service isn’t perfect – in fact some people has described it as being ‘broken’ – but it can help you if you’re vulnerable.

Energy suppliers and Network operators will both keep a Priority Services Register. If you think you should be added to either, you can apply to be added to their priority services register by filling in the forms on their websites. Give them your contact details and as much information as you can about your situation and your needs.

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Finding information about the PSR can be difficult. We carried out a ‘mystery shopper’ exercise involving 17 UK energy providers, and in most cases their websites didn’t make it obvious or easy.  Many providers only allowed registration online, and only 3 out of the 17 websites had dedicated phones numbers for vulnerability related queries – the rest subjected vulnerable customers to a call routing system, with no specific reference to the PSR.

PSR – Ofgem criticism

PSR should be a vital service that supports and helps protect vulnerable people – including pensioners, people with health conditions, households with children under five, and people dependent on medical equipment. Unfortunately though, very few people – less than 20% of UK adults – are aware of it. In 2013 Ofgem found that only 24% of people knew about the PSR, so they called on energy firms to get better at identifying vulnerability and registering customers on it. Now, years later, and despite Ofgem criticising energy suppliers for failing their vulnerable customers again, even fewer people seem to know about the PSR.

The issue is made worse by the fact that each energy provider has its own PSR. They don’t share details with each other, so people have to register with each provider separately, and if you switch you’ll need to register again with any new supplier. So if you have a different supplier for your gas and electricity, you need to contact them both, along with your network operators.

Who can register

You are eligible to register on a PSR if you:

  • are state pension age or older
  • are disabled 
  • have sight or hearing conditions
  • have mental health problems
  • are pregnant or have children under 5
  • are recovering from an injury
  • have poor or no sense of smell
  • would struggle to answer the door or get help in an emergency
  • have extra communication needs
  • need to use medical equipment that needs a power supply

You may also be able to register for other reasons.

Benefits of registering

Some of the benefits of registering with the PSR are:

  • Wherever possible, you should receive advanced notice of scheduled power cuts. If you rely on your energy supply for medical reasons your network operator can tell you about planned power cuts, like engineering work.
  • Priority support in an emergency.
  • Priority support when you call your network operator.
  • ID and password scheme.
  • Nominee scheme. You can nominate someone to receive communications and bills from your supplier.
  • Regular meter reading services. For example, if nobody can read your meter.
  • Accessible information. For example, account info and bills in large print or braille.
  • Help reconnecting your gas supply.

Wider than just the energy sector

You can also register with us, the Vulnerability Registration Service, for free. We work with organisations in the energy sector, and every other sector too – so if you register with us any organisation that searches our records will see that you’re registered, and be able to treat you more carefully and appropriately.

REGISTER HERE

There are dozens of energy suppliers in the UK, with companies entering and leaving the market regularly. In 2021 at least 15 energy providers went bust, and their customers were moved to a number of different providers. A list, which isn’t exhaustive, is below:

  • Cadent
  • Northern Gas Networks
  • SGN (formerly Scotia Gas Networks)
  • Wales & West Utilities
  • Electricity North West
  • Northern Powergrid
  • Scottish & Southern Energy Networks
  • UK Power Networks
  • SP Energy Networks
  • National Grid Electricity Distribution (formerly Western Power Distribution)
  • British Gas
  • EDF Energy
  • Eon
  • nPower
  • Scottish Power
  • SSE
  • OVO
  • Octopus Energy
  • Eclipse Power Networks
  • Energy Assets Networks
  • ESP Utilities Group
  • Forbury Assets Ltd (FAL) (SSE Enterprise) Fulcrum
  • GTC
  • Harlaxton Energy Networks
  • Indigo Power
  • Last Mile Asset Management
  • Leep Utilities
  • Murphy
  • mua Group
  • UK Power Distribution
  • Utility Assets
  • Vattenfall

Finding your suppliers and operators

Your network operators can tell you who your supplier is. To find out who your operator is you can use these tools:

Gas: www.findmysupplier.energy

Electric: www.energynetworks.org