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WPD cuts supply interruption time by 49 per cent

Western Power Distribution (WPD) has cut the average time its customers are without power by 49 per cent on the level in 2011/12, beating its target of 23 per cent set by Ofgem for the entire eight-year price control period.

In its performance report for 2015/16 WPD has revealed that it has met and exceeded a number of targets set by Ofgem in its RIIO-ED1 price control across important areas such as resilience, connections and customer service.

Customer interruptions have reduced by 27 per cent on 2011/12 levels. The target is 16 per cent over the price control period.

WPD said 89.16 per cent of customers were restored within one hour of an HV fault, beating its annual target of 85 per cent of customers.

Only 57 customers were off supply for more than 12 hours – a 99 per cent improvement on the company’s 2012/13 benchmark figures.

WPD also beat its connection targets in 15 of 16 categories, and is the top performing DNO for the connections customer survey in Ofgem’s broad measure of customer satisfaction, achieving an average of 8.74 out of 10 cross its licence areas.

The DNO achieved the top four scores for overall customer satisfaction – a weighted amalgamation of results of the three surveys for supply interruptions, connections and general enquiries.

WPD’s expenditure for 2015/15 was 2 per cent higher than totex allowances for costs within the control period. It is due to spend £7.1 billion through the price control mechanism over the eight-year period.