The Government’s push to get QR codes that link to price-comparison sites on our energy bills fails to take into account the technology’s unpopularity
It’s highly likely that you’ve never used QR (Quick-Response) codes before, and many people haven’t even heard of them. Nevertheless, the Government is now suggesting QR codes will be a crucial weapon in the fight against rising energy costs. So what exactly are QR codes and do we really need them on our energy bills?
QR codes were invented in 1994 for the Japanese automotive industry as a high-speed way of scanning car components in the manufacturing process. They have since spread across the globe and are used for a wide variety of purposes, including commercial tracking and processing tickets for planes, buses and concerts.
One area where QR codes haven’t really caught on is their use in smartphone technology. In theory, you can use your smartphone camera as a QR code scanner to reach the relevant website directly whenever you hover your phone over a QR code. In practice, there are a lot of hurdles to overcome for this to work smoothly. You need a smartphone, a third-party QR scanner app (neither Apple nor Google have felt the need to develop their own), an internet connection, and a great deal of patience as your phone needs to focus on the code before finally loading the webpage.
Now, even though the Government admits QR-code technology is only used by a “minority” of people and may be subject to “short-term obsolescence,” Energy Secretary Ed Davey wants to force energy providers to include QR codes on all energy bills. The code will link smartphone owners to a price-comparison site where they can see whether other energy providers are offering better deals.
This is all well and good for tech-savvy people with smartphones, but what about those who use less sophisticated phones that don’t double as awkward barcode scanners?
Even among the growing number of smartphone owners, QR codes just aren’t popular. A recent ComScore survey showed that only 10.8 per cent of smartphone users in the UK have scanned a QR code. The market-analysis site Marketing Charts showed that, while smartphone use has been increasing, QR-code use has been flatlining since late 2011.
We asked a spokesman for the Department of Energy & Climate Change about how QR codes on energy bills will help people without smartphones. He suggested these people look to the “large cohort of trusted third-sector outreach groups... who are already helping vulnerable consumers”. In other words, if you don’t own a smartphone, you need to take your QR-coded bill to a charity, council or other local event where someone can scan it for you.
The spokesperson didn’t specify where or when such events take place, but insisted: “the role of friends and family shouldn’t be dismissed, as this is a very important source of trusted help and advice to vulnerable consumers”.
This smacks of a cynical example of Cameron’s ‘Big Society’, foisting an unpopular technology upon us and telling us to learn from those around us how to use it. How is this empowering anyone, let alone the most vulnerable? The spokesman also said the Government is “very much open to the idea of alternatives that achieve the same end”.
Here’s an alternative: energy bills that directly show how much money can be saved with another energy provider, or include a freephone number to an independent comparison helpline. After all, people are more likely to relate to phone numbers and cheaper prices than to a box of pixels.
