Welcome to our engagement hub which is here to give you the platform to share your views and feedback with us on issues around our network, environment and on customer service and bill impact. We have some huge decisions to make, fundamentally about the trade-offs between investment to improve our service and the cost of those improvements. We want to ensure that our future plans are built on your needs and that we are getting our investment and service right.
These are the consultations and surveys that are now open for your feedback and opinion. We want to provide you with a clear picture of how our plans are developing.
Read our electricity users in vulnerable circumstances strategy which sets out the challenges we face, our approach to support the North West region to address these challenges, and the principles and themes that guide our thinking and the development of our services and commitment.
It highlights the developing services we offer to support the 5.4million electricity users across the region and ensuring that they are included in the journey as we transition to a net zero future. The strategy outlines our approach to the vital role we play in removing barriers that could prevent customers from accessing the services and support available, not just from us, but also the wider support network already in place for the region.
Read our environmental action plan which sets out our strategies to enable the decarbonisation of our network and to reduce our wider environmental impacts of network activity.
We’ve already made great strides to improve our environmental performance and limit the environmental impact on the area in which we operate. But we simply cannot stop there. We need to go further, including limiting greenhouse gas emissions to improve the natural biodiversity and to have a minimal impact on the environment.
Read our electric vehicle (EV) strategy which sets out the actions we will take to lead and support our customers and wider stakeholders on our journey to decarbonise the region’s transport. Central to these actions will be the preparation of the electricity network for the decarbonisation of transport and the rapid uptake of EVs.
Our five key principles focus on: listening to our customers, making it simple, leading by example, working smart and playing our part in the national strategy.
Read our major connections strategy that outlines our proposed connections strategies and the approach we are taking to develop them for our next price control period, RIIO-ED2 (2023-2028).
We are seeking feedback on how we are currently performing against a set of baseline expectations that Ofgem has identified focusing on pre-application information and engagement, the application process and delivery of connection.
We’ll be using established stakeholder engagement channels for each of the relevant market segments and would like your views on our approach. We also welcome the opportunity for you to provide any further feedback on our process, how we are performing and any suggestions you may have for improvements.
To help the UK’s efforts to drive a green recovery from Covid-19 we are looking to bring forward around £15 million of investment into schemes that will have significant economic impact in the region.
We plan our investments years in advance as a large infrastructure provider, but we are able to flex our programme to react to changes. By bringing investment forward, we can help the region and kick start the green recovery.
We want your views on which projects we should bring forward and we also want you to suggest others for consideration. The consultation will be open for six weeks, until Friday 19 March. We will then present a shortlist to the energy regulator, Ofgem, and will announce the chosen projects in April.
In summer 2020 we invited our stakeholders to comment on our plans for the electricity network in the North West as part of the transition to net zero carbon.
Our three new documents (our ‘DSO strategy’, ‘Analysis of DSO functions’ and our ‘Grid digitalisation & data strategy’ ) describe the progress we have made and set out the next steps we are taking on the transition to ‘distribution system operation’ (DSO) – an industry-wide initiative to drive the changes needed to achieve net zero carbon emissions in the UK.
The UK became the first major economy in the world to pass laws to address global warming and bring carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. Some areas of the North West have ambitious aims and desires to deliver net zero even sooner.
As we begin the transition to net zero, it’s never been more important to use innovative ways to reduce our carbon emissions and help decarbonise while meeting all our other objectives as a network operator too.
Our innovation strategy sets out the challenges we face and our approach to using innovation to address these challenges. It also sets out the principles and themes that guide our thinking in the development of specific innovation projects. It details how we engage with our stakeholders to help us with ideas to deliver our innovation plans.
Technology and information are vital to almost every business, enabling everything including improved customer service, increased job satisfaction and rapid innovation. Our role will take an even greater significance as we: transition to delivering Distribution System Operation; implement the UK’s Energy Data Taskforce recommendations; and support the road to net zero carbon.
Our digital strategy is aligned to many of our other strategies and outlines how we plan to continue delivering network reliability and security, excellent service and efficient operations. Our digital strategy was published in December 2020 and we welcome any feedback you may have to further develop the strategy.
Our community and local energy strategy sets out how we will continue to support community and local energy customers now and in the future. As we look to decarbonise and reduce our own emissions and helping businesses, our customers and our colleagues to do the same.
We have an important role to develop community and local energy amongst our customers and stakeholders, by shaping our services based on your input. We first published the strategy in summer 2020 following feedback from our customers and stakeholders and we welcome any further feedback as we look forward.
