Universal Gas Solutions
Providing direct support services to vulnerable customers
Would rate this service a 15/10 if I could. Extremely thankful for all of the help – God bless.
Mr Mahmood
Care and Repair beneficiary
Why we’re working together
When we’re called to a gas emergency at a customer’s home, our engineers will always make the situation safe. If the issue is with a faulty appliance or internal pipework, we must isolate the appliance or supply until it’s repaired or replaced by a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Many vulnerable households are unable to meet this unexpected cost or find it challenging to arrange a repair, meaning they are forced to remain off supply longer than necessary.
Our engineers told us they weren’t comfortable walking away from a customer in these circumstances – they wanted to support vulnerable households left off supply.
Our Care and Repair scheme provides emergency funding to ensure vulnerable households are not left without gas indefinitely because they can’t afford the unplanned repair or replacement. Working with a trusted Gas Safe registered company ensures our customers can be supported within the first 24 hours of their gas going off.
Through our scheme, we take the worry and responsibility off the customer to find trusted and reliable tradespeople to get their gas supply restored.
We’ve supported customers through this scheme since winter 2020, with our current delivery partner Universal Gas Solutions providing this service for us since August 2022.
Scheme objectives
- Funding boiler repairs and appliance servicing for households in financial hardship
- Supporting vulnerable households to identify and engage a Gas Safe registered engineer
How we’re working together
Appliance repairs and replacements
When we identify a household in financial hardship, Gas Safe registered engineers from Universal Gas Solutions will repair or replace the faulty appliance or pipework, or service the appliance as required. Throughout the process, they ensure there is an efficient, safe and positive outcome for our vulnerable customers. This might also include helping the customer to address barriers to making repairs, such as clearing spaces to enable the work to safely take place.
Carbon monoxide testing
If we’ve needed to isolate the gas supply to a vulnerable household due to a suspected or confirmed carbon monoxide leak from an appliance, the Universal Gas Solutions engineers will also test for CO in line with CMDDA1 and the associated procedures. If these tests identify CO from a faulty appliance, the engineers can repair or replace it for the customer and reduce the amount of time the customer is without their gas supply.
Energy safeguarding
The Universal Gas Solutions team also provides customers with additional support services to stay safe and warm at home including installing new CO alarms, providing practical energy efficiency advice and, if needed, onward referrals to trusted organisations for income maximisation and debt support. By spending time with the customer, they’re able to comprehensively identify other funding mechanisms and support services that could help the customer maintain a safe and warm home for the long term.
We’re immensely proud to be working with SGN. The opportunities to make a real difference to individuals and families from vulnerable and fuel poor households have been the most fulfilling area of work we have participated in. We have benefitted from the learning from SGN and their partners and are looking forward to expanding our support further in preparation for winter 2023/24.