Stakeholder satisfaction survey

Engagement is well embedded, with 187 stakeholders reporting strong satisfaction (79%)—slightly lower than last year but still positive.

Advisory panels are a clear strength, driving meaningful engagement and value.

Stakeholders want more frequent, transparent interactions, especially on connections, net zero and capacity, with clearer evidence of how feedback leads to action.

Focusing on improved communication, stronger feedback loops and expanded panel engagement will help build on this solid foundation.

Stakeholder engagement has improved overall, with satisfaction reaching its highest level since 2022 (82%), based on feedback from 184 stakeholders.

Strong relationships, particularly through advisory panels, are driving positive perceptions and outcomes.

While network capacity and net zero remain key priorities, stakeholders want more frequent, accessible and personalised engagement, clearer communication of actions and impact, and greater transparency around future plans.

Enhancing digital channels, providing named contacts and improving communication on projects, resilience and support for communities will be key to strengthening engagement further.

This year, 176 stakeholders participated in our survey, which included questions on:

• Overall satisfaction with their relationship with us
• Engagement preferences
• Desired changes for future engagement
• Barriers to engaging with us, and ways to overcome these barriers.

We also conducted deep dives into how the needs and experiences differ among key stakeholder groups.

Our stakeholder relationships and satisfaction remain strong, with an average of 79% of stakeholders satisfied with their relationship with us. This satisfaction rate rises to 87% among those who engage more frequently, reflecting a 2% improvement in both scores from the previous year.

Stakeholders emphasised the importance of considering their time when scheduling meetings and events. They also expressed a strong desire for us to enhance feedback loops, ensuring a clear connection between their suggestions and our actions.

We were pleased to discover that 49% of our stakeholders consider themselves advocates for SP ENW, indicating they are more likely to invite us to collaborate with their organisations.

The feedback gathered from the survey will inform the development of our 2024/25 improvement plan, which will set out our actions to respond to this feedback and how we will continually enhance our engagement with stakeholders.

This year 149 stakeholders took part in our survey which incorporated questions spanning overall satisfaction with the relationship held with us, engagement preferences and new topics including net zero and digitalisation. Adding new topics to our survey allows us to focus on the issues that are important to our stakeholders.  

Our stakeholder relationships and satisfaction continue to stay strong with on average 77% of stakeholders being satisfied with the relationship they have with us, rising to 85% among those engaging more often. This year stakeholders put more emphasis and importance on regular communication and collaboration as drivers for stakeholder satisfaction  – more so than last year.

The survey also showed that 18% of ‘familiar’ stakeholders (those who have had contact with SP Electricity North West in the past 12 months) and 33% of less familiar stakeholders (no contact in the previous 12 months) would like to engage on a more frequent basis.

We learned that 5% of stakeholders have taken up net zero business support, while 21% plan to take this up in the next 12 months. The network asset viewer and stakeholder engagement hub were the most commonly used open-access tools, with very high satisfaction for the network asset viewer, available via our new data portal.

The feedback gathered from the survey will now contribute to the development of our 2023/24 improvement plan that sets out what we will do to respond to this feedback and continually improve engagement with our stakeholders.

We engaged with 126 participants on overall satisfaction and, in addition this year, we surveyed the acceptability of our response to Storm Arwen.

Our stakeholder relationships and satisfaction continue to stay strong, despite the impact of Storm Arwen. Stakeholder satisfaction increased by 2% last year with a score of 83%.

The survey also indicated that 18% of ‘familiar’ stakeholders (those who have had contact with SP Electricity North West in the past 12 months) and 33% of less familiar stakeholders (no contact in the previous 12 months) would like to engage on a more frequent basis.

We engaged with 205 participants and achieved excellent representation across our stakeholder community. The survey measured overall satisfaction, attitudes towards the relationship held, future engagement preferences and improvement areas.

The results indicated a strong correlation between the frequency of engagement, stakeholders’ familiarity with our business and overall satisfaction (81%). 

Despite increased engagement during COVID-19 only 3% of stakeholders wished to engage less often in the future. The baseline survey highlighted five key areas for improvement and we have leveraged our agility in responding to feedback by enhancing our improvement plans to make changes quickly.