Our journey
It took more than two years to develop our Business Plan for 2015-2023 (RIIO-ED1). During that time, we held many events and consulted on a range of topics that informed our process.
Our ultimate aim was to develop a plan which meets our different stakeholders’ needs, but also ensures that we are offering value for money and delivering the services that you require.
We undertook an extensive stakeholder engagement process involving:
- 2,500 online consultations
- 1,700 willingness to pay interviews with customers
- 12 critical friends panel sessions
- Expert panel reviews.
The background to RIIO-ED1
While building this Business Plan, our industry had started to experience relative uncertainty. The Government had started to set tough targets for cutting carbon emissions and meeting those would require substantial changes to our networks.
In response, Ofgem introduced a new approach to energy network regulation known as RIIO (Revenue set using incentives to drive innovation and outputs). This was designed to encourage companies like us to focus on delivering what matters to our customers and to invest in support of a low-carbon economy.
All of these improvements could add extra cost, and that’s why we have attempted to engage customers and stakeholders from day one in the planning process. Our aim was to develop a plan which meets our different stakeholders’ needs, but also ensures that we are offering value for money.
Our Stakeholder Engagement process
Throughout 2013 – 2015 we undertook the most extensive stakeholder engagement the organisation had taken to date. This included:
- 12 Critical Friends Panel Sessions
- 14 focus groups with domestic customers
- 21 telephone interviews with London business customers to test their willingness to pay for certain services
- 1,200 willingness to pay interviews with domestic customers
- 300 willingness to pay interviews with business customers
- 200 willingness to pay interviews with central London business customers
- 22 customer connections stakeholder forums
- Stakeholder panels on vulnerable consumers and fuel poor customers, storm performance, metal theft and street works
- Two distributed generation customer stakeholder forums
- Targeted stakeholder feedback
- Peer review panel of our innovation strategy
- Bilateral engagement with suppliers and large business customers
- Consultation on the November 2012 draft Business Plan
- Business Plan challenge panel
- Extra Critical Friends Panel Sessions after Ofgem review in November 2013
- Bilateral discussions with key shareholders after Ofgem review in November 2013.
