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Northern Powergrid finalises new business plan following consultations facilitated by Involve and VONNE

10 July 2013

Northern Powergrid has recently announced the submission of its 2015-23 business plan to the regulator Ofgem. This follows an 18-month consultation with customers and stakeholders.

Involve Yorkshire & Humber has been supporting Northern Powergrid to conduct consultations with the VCS and with communities who are at increased risk of fuel poverty.

Northern Powergrid said:

“We received feedback from over 4,800 stakeholders and reached many more through surveys, focus groups, workshops, meetings, events, and panel sessions. And, of course, we also engaged through e-bulletins, the special website and our own Northern Powergrid website. The feedback has informed the business plan we have submitted to our regulator Ofgem who will now formally evaluate it.

If the energy regulator agrees that our plan offers a good deal for our customers and is sufficiently well-justified, they will approve the plan and we will be ‘fast-tracked’. That means that we will know that our proposals are approved and so we will be able get on and deliver our commitments to you – giving you more for less and delivering the improvements earlier than planned.

Our proposals

Our plan sets out our key commitments to play our role in addressing social issues like fuel poverty. We’ve heard loud and clear from you that keeping costs down is essential and our experts have told us that to “heat or eat” is a decision that many people in the regions we work in have to make. We’re keen to start delivering this and the many other proposals in our plan and to continue the dialogue with you as we do this.

We are bringing forward a host of new services, particularly ones that help those who are most in need of support when the power goes off. At the same time, we will reduce the like-for-like costs of running the network, compared to the current period.

We are also excited about the prospects of playing our part in what is becoming known as ‘the low-carbon agenda’.”