Frazer-Nash Consultancy and Citizens Advice have been nominated for Data for Good Consulting Initiative of the Year at the British Data Awards 2025.
Now in its fifth year, the annual British Data Awards celebrates the UK’s data success stories and showcases the vibrancy of the UK’s data ecosystem. The nomination for the 2025 awards was in recognition of Frazer-Nash’s work for client Citizens Advice to help spotlight the issue of extreme fuel poverty. Using advanced modelling, Frazer-Nash data scientists provided evidence to help the charity understand how vulnerable energy consumers will be financially impacted as we transition away from fossil fuels to net zero.
Across Great Britain, around 24 million households use natural gas to heat their homes. All of these households help to repay historic investments in network infrastructure through their bills. However, with the transition to net zero, the number of gas-connected properties is set to reduce drastically, leaving the repayment costs of infrastructure - currently over 26 billion GBP - to be borne by fewer households. These remaining gas consumers will likely be those who cannot afford to transition to low carbon heating technologies such as heat pumps but could see their bills increase to unaffordable levels during the 2040s. Unless something can be done, the impact to finances, livelihoods and mortality could be substantial for over five million of the most vulnerable gas consumers.
Citizens Advice advocates for policy action to protect energy consumers but needs data and quantified impacts to be calculated so that their messages to government and industry can be evidence-based. This is particularly challenging because of the large uncertainties involved in the energy transition and how the gas bills are calculated.
To address this uncertainty, Frazer-Nash data scientists developed a probabilistic model to calculate the effect of current policy and regulatory decisions on future consumer bills. The modelling approach enabled Citizens’ Advice to quantify the scale of the problem and advocate for policy changes which will support a just and equitable transition hopefully preventing the severe impact to vulnerable consumers.
Andy Moore, Group Leader, Strategic Modelling at Frazer-Nash Consultancy said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for Data for Good Consulting Initiative of the Year at the British Data Awards 2025. Frazer-Nash Consultancy delivers innovative data and technology solutions to make lives safer, more secure, sustainable and affordable. I am incredibly proud of what the team achieved on this project for Citizens Advice. It is a great example of how a structured modelling approach can be used alongside industry knowledge to inform a complex policy challenge.”
“Our company values of ‘Doing things that matter’ align strongly with Citizens Advice mission and together we want to make a more sustainable, affordable and equitable future for all.”
“We are proud that our work has already been used to confidently communicate the impact of current policy to Ofgem and Government departments, who have been actively engaged in informing how the model can test scenarios and help to develop data driven policy for the public good.”
The winners of this year’s British Data Awards will be announced at a ceremony on 14 May 2025.
