December 2023
In December ENWL colleagues and customers battled two weather events as treacherous conditions hit the North West. Across the two incidents, which saw snow and then rain and strong winds hit the region, engineers restored power to more than 30,000 properties across two consecutive weekends.
Details were provided of the upcoming Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey and how stakeholders could take part. Our award-winning apprenticeship programme opened with 45 roles available. There was a call out for Autumn flexibility tender applications and this issue also featured a dedicated updated from the Connections team.
November 2023
November’s stakeholder newsletter was a timely opportunity following Storm Debi, for us all to be winter ready and to remind stakeholders of the additional help we can offer customers via our Extra Care Register and Extra Care web pages for lots of useful tips and advice. We’ve also teamed up with Citizens Advice and Energy Saving Trust to launch Take Charge, a free impartial advice service.
November saw us deliver our three Regional stakeholder workshops in Preston, Penrith and Manchester. It was great to see so many of our stakeholders and to share information on the regions long-term economic development, our investment and connections support and to discuss media interest in national connection queues. We were also delighted to launch our Regional investment booklets highlighting the investment we're making in each region.
After successfully advancing through the initial stage of Ofgem’s Strategic Innovation Fund, Electricity North West’s Net Zero Terrace and RetroMeter projects have been awarded a further £1m.
October 2023
October’s stakeholder newsletter was full of opportunities to come and meet us in person and online with a final opportunity to sign up to our annual regional stakeholder workshops and the launch of webinars on a new flexible services tender, accelerating connections and for our communities to apply to the Storm Arwen Resilience Fund.
We were delighted to announce this year’s Powering our Communities Fund winners and awarded £83,054 to six projects which all demonstrated widespread community engagement alongside activity which will deliver, or have the potential to deliver, carbon savings.
September 2023
In September we experienced our first named storm of the season: Storm Agnes. We experienced 16 high-voltage (HV) faults. Ten of these, affecting 1,500 customers, were restored within three minutes by the automation we’ve invested in our network. Engineers also worked through the night on the other six HV faults to manually restore power to 2,700 customers.
We also launched our Take Charge campaign providing free energy and money advice for customers. Working alongside Energy Saving Trust and Citizens Advice North West.
September also saw us headline sponsor the annual GM Green Summit and we launched our annual regional stakeholder engagement workshops.
Plus, we provided a round-up of the latest news and the latest events and also opportunities from some of our partners.
August 2023
In August we had been busy planning our schedule of stakeholder events for the autumn and August's newsletter highlighted a number of opportunities to meet and engage with us and our partners at numerous events in the following months.
In August we also submitted a response to Ofgem’s consumer standards statutory consultation. The consultation was set out to further improve customer service for both businesses and households across Great Britain and one of the proposals included a 24/7 service to be provided by electricity suppliers for faults on their meters.
July 2023
July saw the launch of our new stakeholder advisory panel structure and our Independent Oversight Group who ensure that we continue to take into account stakeholder and customer feedback into our decision making as we deliver our ambitious new Business Plan.
July also saw us complement our ongoing collaboration on customer and community projects with SSEN to announce an innovative collaboration agreement with UK Power Networks to determine how to best help vulnerable customers and support Net Zero.
Following submission to Ofgem, our 2022/23 Stakeholder Engagement and Consumer Vulnerability (SECV) submission went live on the website for stakeholders to view and find out more about our stakeholder activities during 2022/23. Along with three inspiring videos that summarise our submission.
Also, our 2023 flexibility services consultation launched, the government were seeking evidence to understand how to enable industry to switch away from fossil fuels to electricity in an open consultation and we launched our new Housing Associations and Local Authorities web page. We also became the first DNO to publish Embedded Capacity Register above 50kW. Plus a round up of the latest news.
June 2023
In June, following the decision of Steve Cox to retire from the business after an amazing 40 years, we were delighted to announce the appointment of a new Asset and Technology, and Strategy and Growth director, Ben Grunfeld.
It was Net zero awareness week and we shared what we're doing to enable the region to reach its net zero target. We also shared details of the upcoming Go! Electric Roadshow that we're supporting and speaking at. We were also delighted to announce our sponsorship of the Manchester International Festival.
Stakeholders were invited to participate in an open consultation for the strategy and policy statement for energy policy in Great Britain. Plus, we provided a round-up of the latest news and the latest events and also opportunities from some of our partners.
May 2023
In May we were delighted to announce that Chris Johns joined Electricity North West as Chief Financial Officer. We were announced as the headline sponsor of the upcoming Northern Sustainability Summit. We were awarded £400k for three exciting innovation projects to help reach net zero: Net Zero Terrace; Retrometer and REWIRE.
Our popular Powering our Communities fund re-opened for applications, with an increased pot of £100,000 committed to community energy and the Flexible Services spring tender was open. In other industry news: the new Net Zero Council held their inaugural meeting. The Growth Company were running the Low Carbon Skills: Journey to Net Zero programme and the Carbon Literacy Project were running the Carbon Literacy for Local Authorities Online Networking Event. Plus, a round-up of all the latest news.
April 2023
On 31 March, not only did we close the door on another financial year, but also on another Ofgem price control (known as RIIO-ED1) and 1 April saw the start of the new price control (RIIO-ED2) and Electricity North West's £2bn power investment which covers the five-year period up to 31 March 2028.
Also in our April newsletter, it was the last chance to register for our Community Connects online event and to have your say in our Community and Local Energy stakeholder survey. The Flexible Services spring tender went live, the latest Distribution Flexibility Procurement statement was been published, and there was an upcoming flexibility event in London to register for. We were delighted to be sponsoring the Northern Sustainability Summit, and there were updates from our partnership fund and from the Bee Net Zero partnership guide to green finance. Plus, a round-up of all the latest news.
Repair work continues as power network damaged due to strong winds
Electricity North West engineers have restored power to more than 17,000 properties following treacherous overnight conditions.
High winds topping 55mph and heavy rain hit large parts of Cumbria and Lancashire causing more than 17,600 properties to lose power across 43 separate incidents on the power network.
Electricity North West's £2bn power investment
The new price control (known as RIIO-ED2) covers the five-year period from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2028. Over the next five years we’re investing £2bn in the region’s infrastructure to keep power flowing and meet the region’s needs. That's more than £1m a day - the largest ever investment in the network!
March 2023
In our March issue we shared details of the launch of the new Priority Service Register (PSR) website in partnership with energy network operators across Great Britain. It was the last chance to submit for Electricity North West's £1.75m partnership fund, there were three free webinars to register for covering Electricity North West's DSO functions: DFES, Data and Flexible Services, a Community Connects event and a demystifying solar webinar. The Community and Local Energy stakeholder survey went live, there was an update on flexible services, and the launch of a new initiative so that stakeholders can order our literature to their door in the north west's 10 most spoken languages. There was an update on the Stakeholder Satisfaction Survey which helps us implement our stakeholder engagement strategy. Electricity North West secured an important partnership with Kidney Care UK, and highlights were shared of a recent Cumbria net zero electric vehicle event. Plus, a round-up of all the latest news.
We’re preparing for snow and wind - 9 March 2023
Snow and high winds were forecast during early March. This supplementary communication was sent to stakeholders and local authorities to explain the range of measures in place to ensure Electricity North West is ready for any impact on the electricity network and to provide stakeholders with guidance and information for being prepared in the eventuality of a power cut.
February 2023
In our February issue the focus was on safety and implementing our three Cs - concentrate, commit and comply. We provided safety themed updates on our first-of-a-kind LineSIGHT technology, our safety squad game and highlighted the dangers of a recent spate of vandalism. Also, in February's newsletter was the opportunity to book a place at our EV event in Cumbria, details of our £1.75m partnership fund and an update on flexible services' 2022 year in review. One of our apprentices scooped a prestigious award, an update on our CLASS system and sustainability panels, and the Carbon Literacy Project hits 50,000 literate citizens.
January 2023
In our January issue, we announced our latest call for apprentices and we finalised our commitments ahead of the new business plan period (2023 - 2028) starting in April. We provided information on our Cumbria net zero electric vehicle event, an update on flexible services, Electricity North West and Roch Valley Radio collaborated to produce a podcast series, there was a reminder on our support with the cost of living, a £1m Windermere project powered ahead and Green Skills Academy launched. Plus, there was a final reminder for our free mental health webinars in partnership with SSEN and Medigold health.