Delivering for our Customers

Our customers tell us their most important priorities are:

• A reliable network with the ability to contact us quickly and easily in the event of a problem
• Prompt restoration when a fault does occur
• Accurate information on the likely duration of the fault

To help ensure these priorities are achieved the industry Regulator, Ofgem , measures the performance of all Distribution Network Operators via a set of measures under the Information and Incentives Project (IIP). The areas we are measured against are Customer Minutes Lost (CML), Customer Interruptions (CI), Guaranteed Standards and Telephone Response.

Customer Minutes Lost (CML) and Customer Interruptions (CI)

Our focus on reducing time to restoration and minimising supply interruptions continues. Investment in technologies such as Network Controllable Points (NCPs), improve the CI & CML performance of our Distribution Networks.  Automated solutions which re-configure the network, immediately restore some customers supplies from an alternative source on parts of the network unaffected by the fault. In addition, NCPs provide our Network Management Centres with additional control functionality and visibility.We can therefore react faster to fault conditions and system abnormalities to restore supply to our customers.

Telephone Response

Over the past 2 years we have made consistent and sustained improvement across all areas of service by focusing on internal processes to deliver a better overall customer experience through our call centres, control rooms and field activities. As a result, Ofgem’s end of year results indicate we have demonstrated the best year on year improvement in the industry.

As we go forward we are investing heavily in a new automated call handling system designed to provide customers with the most accurate information possible.

Whilst we recognise people sometimes have a negative view of automated systems, our call levels can rise from a steady pace of 5 calls per minute to 300 calls per minute within a very short space of time. Use of an automated system is therefore vital in helping us keep customers informed. We are also making a major investment in a new customer database and integration with key business systems.  This will enhance the number of customers we automatically recognise and provide them with a message relevant to their situation. It will also provide us with the capability to identify special needs customers for prioritisation, and to establish continuous improvement process to maintain and improve the quality of customers' data.

As always those customers who can’t be served through the automated system will be able to speak to a call agent. In order to further enhance our telephony techniques we have appointed Call Coaches to finesse our telephony techniques.

Whilst automated customer messaging is designed to keep customers informed about any incident, we also call back customers who may have called in the early stages of an incident before any message has been posted.

Improved Customer Contact Training for our Employees

We have consistently improved our customer care score in the last 2 years but our journey continues. This year we will continue with delivery of improvement initiatives. This includes Customer Service Training for all of our field resources who support faults and provide front line customer service on a daily basis. The programme, delivered by an expert in this area, is designed to further enhance the customer experience should a fault occur on our network and aims to give all our front line staff the skills and confidence to help our customers.

Guaranteed Standards

For many of our activities we promise a guaranteed level of service, and if we fail, we will pay compensation. For more details on our Standards of service please click here.
 

Excellent Customer Service First Time Every Time

We take a pro-active approach to establishing which customers have poor service and take appropriate action to resolve matters as quickly as possible.

We’re committed to providing you with excellent customer service, first time every time but unfortunately sometimes things do go wrong. We want to know when this happens, so that we can sort out any problems as quickly as we can. Click here for more information on our complaints procedure.

Priority Services for Customers with Special Needs During a Power Cut

We know how difficult it is for anybody during a power cut, but in particular we recognise how especially worrying it must be if you rely on electricity for medical equipment, or have other special needs.
We keep a Priority Services Register so that we can contact our most vulnerable customers if they do experience a power cut. You can find out more details by clicking here.

Asset Management -We have a diverse range of assets such as substations, overhead lines, underground cables and towers, all of which cover varying voltage ranges.

We review both the age and condition of the equipment and replace as necessary. This ensures the network continues to operate safely and reliably, whilst avoiding unnecessary expense.

Maintenance of our equipment is based on actual performance and condition. We carry out inspections, tree trimming and maintenance on a regular basis. Any defect repairs are carried out and prioritised according to their impact on the network with regard to both safety and security of the network.

Investing for the Future

We are continually investing to preserve the safety and continuity of energy supplies and to ensure that networks are sufficiently resilient to severe weather conditions. For more information on some of our investment projects click here.