PayPoint today announces a new partnership with Switchee, a data and insights company, which will allow residents to use their cash and energy credit vouchers to top up their energy credit in PayPoint stores.

According to Switchee’s Housing Fuel Poverty Index, one in seven social homes were in the grip of fuel poverty during the coldest period of January this year. This partnership will streamline the process of providing support to residents who have been identified as being at risk of fuel poverty.

Firstly, the households who are severely underheating their homes will be automatically flagged to housing providers, who can then reach out with personalised messages to residents’ Switchee devices. Housing providers can then deliver fuel poverty energy vouchers directly to the Switchee device meaning that residents can receive the support they need without any barriers such as having to respond to a phone call or email. This has proven to be effective as Switchee has received an 87% response rate out of the 300 households contacted so far.

Switchee devices measure the environmental conditions inside residents’ homes and housing providers can directly view this through a platform of insights. This makes it easy for housing associations to easily identify the homes at the highest risk of fuel poverty as well as measure the direct impact of issuing fuel poverty energy vouchers on the living conditions of residents.

Homes that fail to reach 18 degrees Celsius (the NHS recommended temperature from a health perspective) for more than half of the last 30 days are deemed at risk of fuel poverty.

PayPoint currently has more than 28,000 national retail partners, providing swift and local access no matter where Switchee customers are based.

Victoria Lynch, Head of Sector & Partnerships at PayPoint, said: “The innovative data-driven solution provided by Switchee is hugely valued by both social housing providers and residents who need support with their energy bills. Through this partnership, PayPoint is proud to be helping Switchee support vulnerable households through the ongoing cost of living crisis.”

Tom Robins, Switchee CEO, said: “Our partnership with PayPoint is an important step forward in our continued efforts to fight fuel poverty. Living in fuel poverty is debilitating for people 365 days of the year, not just in winter. Through our partnership with PayPoint and our direct to resident communications, we are able to cut through barriers presented by traditional communication methodologies, delivering assistance quickly to those who need it the most. I look forward to seeing more of these campaigns be deployed across the country as we continue to improve the quality of life for people living in rented homes."