Anglian named Utility of the Year

The winners of the Utility Week Awards 2021 have been revealed at the rescheduled ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

Anglian Water took home the flagship award as well as sharing the Team of the Year award with Kier and Clancy. See below for a full list of winners in 13 categories, which were announced on Monday night by celebrity host Dara O’Briain.

This year’s Industry Champion award was given posthumously to Audrey Gallacher OBE, the deputy chief executive of Energy UK, who passed away in January.

Utility Week editor James Wallin said: “It was with a heavy heart that we postponed the awards in December but it was fantastic to finally be able to reunite the industry in person to celebrate so many achievements.

“The utilities sector faced a barrage of challenges in 2021 but also highlighted its adaptability and the passion to find innovative solutions to potential barriers. The many submissions we received showcased best practice in everything from engaging communities, to forging ever-closer partnerships with supply chains and the all-important progress on net zero.

“A huge congratulations to our winners and a heartfelt thank you to all those who took the time to enter. We look forward to receiving your submissions for the Utility Week Awards 2022 when entries open in June.”

The winners

Capital Project of the Year

Winner: Thames Water, Clancy and Kier (KCD) for the major sewerage infrastructure project, Chesterton Farm

Collaborative Excellence Award

Winner: City of Edinburgh Council, Morrison Energy Services, Turner & Townsend, RSK, Guard for their work on the Trams to Newhaven Project

Community Investor Award

Winner: SSEN Distribution in partnership with Shetland Telecom for its efforts to connect remote communities using fibre optic technology

Customer Experience Award (sponsored by IFS)

Winner: United Utilities for its determination to deliver empathetic collections service through the pandemic

Customer Vulnerability Award 

Winner: The cross-industry Home & Well initiative backed by: Citizens Advice Hampshire, SSEN Distribution, Southern Water, Portsmouth Water, SGN and NHS Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group

Digital Transformation Award (sponsored by Salesforce)

Winner: Centrica and Cognizant Worldwide for their deployment of an interactive virtual engineer solution

Disruptor Award

Winner: Western Power Distribution for launching and growing the Flexible Power platform

Employer of the Year

Winner: UK Power Networks for its “Mission Possible”

Innovation Award (sponsored by Amazon Web Services)

Winner: Yorkshire Water, Stantec and Xylem for creating the Sheffield West Hydraulic Digital Twin as part of their wider smart water network programme

Highly commended: Octopus Energy for its commitment to “empowering people to save the planet”

Net Zero Award (sponsored by Capgemini)

Winner: SSEN Transmission for its drive to deliver a net zero future

Highly commended: Cadent and Northern Gas Networks for their Hydrogen Homes initiative

Team of the Year

Winner: Anglian Water, Kier and Clancy for their Integrated Metering and Developer Services Alliance

Utility Partner of the Year

Winner: Octopus Energy for its partnerships to deploy its Kraken platform with fellow utilities

Utility of the Year

Winner: Anglian Water