UK Power Networks Rewarded By Ofgem
Electricity distributor UK Power Networks has been recognised for the second consecutive year for its work with stakeholders and vulnerable customers, by industry regulator Ofgem.
Over the past year, UK Power Networks, which keeps the lights on in London, the East and the South East, has directly engaged with 44,648 stakeholder at 125 events to find out their views and help the business prepare its vision of future energy.
UK Power Networks also pioneered innovative work with the Muslim community in its award-winning Faith and Power project and worked with leading dementia charity Age Exchange to understand the needs of customers living with dementia.
To reach more people who would benefit from being on its free Priority Service Register the company arranged shopping centre events and advertised on prescription paper bags at pharmacies. This increased the number of people registered to over one million, a 50% increase on 2015/16.
Matt Rudling, director of customer services said: "It is crucially important that we adapt to meet changing customer needs and expectations, especially at a time of unprecedented change. This year we have engaged more stakeholders from more organisations than ever before. Today's announcement is valuable recognition of the hard work that has been done across our business during 2016/17."
Rebecca Packwood, CEO, of Dementia charity, Age Exchange said: "It has been great to see UK Power Networks engage directly with people living with dementia to understand their needs. UK Power Networks is leading the way in engaging with vulnerable customers and I'm delighted to see they have been rewarded for their hard work today."
These efforts placed UK Power Networks second out of six DNOs in Ofgem's Stakeholder Engagement (and Consumer Vulnerability) Incentive. UK Power Networks was one of only two DNOs to maintain its score from the previous year, when all others fell.