[A] new report released today shows that the region’s power network operator has delivered the best reliability ever over the past year. Electricity North West, which owns and operates the region’s power network is responsible for keeping power on for the five million people in the North West, from Macclesfield to Carlisle.
The figures are released today in the network’s Business Plan Commitment report, which records key achievements against its eight-year plan for the region. As well as the highest ever reliability levels – measured by the number of customers who have had power cuts over the year – the report also reveals that customers are continuing to benefit from lowering costs. This includes a reduction in customer bills of 16% since 2015 resulting in just £92 of a typical bill going to Electricity North West to invest in the network.
Due to the investment in innovative technology and increasing resilience, including the installation of remote control equipment and network automation, both the number of power cuts and the length of power cuts have reduced by 31 percent since 2012 – beating the original 2019 target.
In addition to reliability, the power network operator will also be investing £12m on improving flood resilience which includes an additional funding commitment of £3m to provide further flood protection following experiences during Storm Desmond and Storm Eva in 2015.
Electricity North West has also reduced its carbon emissions by almost 14 percent by using less electricity in depots and less fuel by its fleet of vehicles.
Peter Emery, Electricity North West CEO, said: “We strive to deliver the very best service for all our customers across the North West and to do this we are committed to a philosophy of continuous improvement. The figures released today confirm that even in a rapidly changing environment, the service we are providing is at ‘best ever’ levels.
“We understand how disrupting it can be to be without power which is why we have invested in innovative solutions to help reduce the number and length of power cuts, whilst also keeping costs down and lowering prices.
“The energy industry is changing at a significant pace with more and more people using electricity in a wide variety of ways. At the same time, customer behaviour is also changing which is why we are dedicated to developing new approaches to help us continue to improve the service we provide.”
Get more in-depth insights by reading the full Business Plan Commitments report.
