Under the REC, we are required to progress a Theft Reduction Strategy on behalf of REC Parties and each month we will be updating you on our active workstreams.
Last month we introduced Crimestoppers who administer the Energy Theft Tip-off Service (ETTOS). Since contract award in 2016, ETTOS has played a significant role in helping industry to achieve its Theft Reduction targets.
The service allows members of the public to make anonymous reports of suspected energy theft which are then assessed by Crimestoppers before being passed to industry parties for investigation.
Tip-offs can be made by telephoning the contact centre on 0800 023 2777 or submitting an anonymous form via www.stayenergysafe.co.uk
To date, Crimestoppers has sent almost 27,000 reports to Energy Suppliers, Distribution Network Operators, and Gas Transporters.
Important Updates - as promised, we wanted to update you on the progress of some of the initiatives that have we have been working with Crimestoppers to deliver:
Marketing Campaigns - in addition to Crimestoppers providing the Energy Tip-Off Service, they also run our ‘Stay Energy Safe’ brand.
This platform is used to raise awareness to the public about the potential dangers associated with energy theft.
We currently have two marketing campaigns that have gone live over the past month and have been proving effective, as the current uplift in reports since these going live is on average 29% (15 Nov – 23 Nov 21):
Marketing Video
The radio advert – phase 1 in the North East and North West of England was launched on 15th November 2021 and scheduled to run for four weeks:
Please share the video and radio advert on your platforms to assist in raising awareness.
To continue delivering a high quality, secure, and completely anonymous service, Crimestoppers has been upgrading the security for report dissemination.
We have been working closely with them to ensure any changes made will provide the highest level of security as well as being the least disruptive to industry.
As of 31st January 2022 ETTOS reports will be disseminated via encrypted email rather than via the ETTOS portal. The upgrade will make for a much simpler process, with reports straight to users’ inboxes.
The new process will have the following benefits:
Please look out for the full details of the new process and what you will need to do to prepare in the REC Code Managers weekly bulletin.
Do you have any success stories from a tip off report you have received? Have you recouped lost revenue? Have you kept a family or business safe? If so, we would love to hear from you.
Please send your stories to: theft@retailenergycode.co.uk.
Crimestoppers deliver a high-level monthly report, which provides an overview of the operational performance of the tip-off service. This report was previously presented at the Theft Industry Group under the SPAA and DCUSA codes.
To receive this report, please send an email to theft@retailenergycode.co.uk.
The Energy Savings Trust are planning to deliver a workshop early next year to help users feedback on the energy theft calculator, suggest improvements, and learn about the planned updates.
As outlined in the last edition of the newsletter, we are working with Capgemini to quantify the scale of energy theft in Great Britain and to inform future decisions on how to mitigate the problem. We have identified the data requirements and submitted requests to several parties to obtain it. The project will take a short pause while we await that data, before recommencing with the analysis phase.
Following the analysis, we will progress the decision on whether to replace the former Theft Risk Assessment Service, given our intention for all such significant decisions to be evidence-based. However, we do anticipate Capgemini’s research and analysis will confirm that energy theft remains as great an issue as when Ofgem published its Final Impacts Assessments (IAs) on the subject, if not greater.
In the absence of more recent assessments, the monetary estimates of energy theft from those Ofgem documents continue to be regularly quoted as a point of reference. In the gas IA, Ofgem estimated theft of gas to be around 4.6 Twh, based in part on the 2011 statement by the Allocation of Unidentified Gas Expert (AUGE).
At the prevailing 2.65 pence/Kwh System Average Price that would have valued gas theft alone at around £122m per year. Gas prices are of course currently around 300% higher than in 2011, though we recognise any estimate based on recent prices could prove misleading (assuming wholesale prices start to come down, as most of us hope), and are not a firm basis for a long-term investment decision on theft mitigation measures.
A more meaningful comparator may therefore be the 2021 AUGE statement, which estimates the volume of gas theft to now be around 7.7 Twh (albeit using a different methodology to the original statements).
While there is no direct equivalent of the AUGE statement for electricity, the Ofgem electricity IA suggested the value of electricity theft to be around £250m per year (though some suppliers suggested it to be higher).
At the price of 5.3 pence/Kwh used in the IA assumptions, that would equate to a volume of around 4.717 Twh, close to the estimate for gas. Although total electricity consumption has fallen in recent years, total domestic consumption has been fairly consistent.
Care should again be taken with any monetary estimate, but the long term upward trend in electricity prices would suggest the volume of electricity originally estimated by Ofgem to be stolen each year would now be worth around £375m.
Given the above, while we will of course await the conclusions of the current work on theft estimation, we will make provision in the forthcoming strategy and forward work plan to undertake appropriate mitigating actions as part of a data-driven theft reduction strategy.
If you would like any more information on our theft reduction strategy initiatives, please contact Aiyesha Andrade at: theft@retailenergycode.co.uk.
