Northern Powergrid invites customers to ‘create their own’ business plan

Northern Powergrid has invited customers and other stakeholders to “create their own” business plan as it seeks to gauge their priorities for the RIIO2 price controls kicking off in 2023 for electricity distribution.

The distribution network operator (DNO) has launched an interactive website asking them to pick between five levels of service across twelve key areas of network activity. The choices are all costed and once they have made their selection, people will be presented with an overall bill for their custom plan.

“What our interactive microsite allows people to do is create your own plan – a bit like choosing your own pizza toppings if you like,” said Jim Cardwell, head of regulation and strategy at Northern Powergrid.

“People can create their own plan – create their own package – and then see what that impact on total costs for the bill would be so they get a feel for what some of these trade-offs and choices are.”

Cardwell explained the five levels of service being offered: “Level A is typically today’s service level, so no advancement in any sense really, but we just do it at lower costs… B is an enhanced service but for the same spend. We hold prices flat but we say we’ll do more…

“C, D and E are all involving different spending levels and different associated ambitions based on what they might expect today. Level C we’ve called a major upgrade, level D we’ve called breaking new ground and level E is a new world.”

People are asked to choose which of these levels they would like in each of the following twelves areas:

• Decarbonisation
• Business carbon footprint
• Environmental protection
• Safety
• Long-term network performance and condition
• Reliability and availability
• Climate change adaptation
• Physical and cyber security
• Customer service
• Connections
• Communities
• Openness and transparency

Patrick Erwin, policy and market director and executive lead for stakeholder relations at Northern Powergrid, said the website is only one part of a wider effort to engage with customers: “This is a coordinated and tiered approach that gives our customers multiple ways and choices to interact so they can do so in the way they want to.

“We recognise that some stakeholders will want to go through the microsite or join one of our dedicated regional roundtables to give detailed consultation. Others may only want to take part in a Twitter poll, simple survey or engage with a 30 second video.”

“There are some very important choices to be made in the coming months,” said Northern Powergrid president and chief executive Phil Jones.

“As we consider the options, we need to hear from our customers and stakeholders so we can deliver a plan that reflects their needs and the needs of the wider communities we serve. For example, it’s clear that we have a vital role to play in meeting net zero by 2050, but that still leaves open a wide range of options about what this actually looks like.”