Agenda item

Electricity North West: Investment, customer service and low carbon technology

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Helen Norris, Stakeholder Engagement and CSR Manager; Mike Taylor, Customer Engagement Manager and Strategic Projects; Jonathan Booth, Asset Management; and Ebrahim Hajat, Investment Manager, to the meeting.

 

The officers delivered a presentation which provided the committee with:

 

·  An introduction to Electricity North West.

·  Information on investments in Lancashire, customer service and support partnerships for vulnerable customers.

·  Information on supporting strategic projects and low carbon technologies.

 

On investments in Lancashire, it was noted that Electricity North West's assets were installed during the 1950s/60s and there was now a requirement to change these assets to enable new ways of delivering electricity and managing reliability. The Committee was informed that behaviour changes of people affected the network and whilst Electricity North West ensured power cuts were minimised it was now looking at smarter ways of working such as installing new technology to become efficient, resilient and responsive to people's needs as well as to help identify any faults.

It was noted that the average time a person could expect to go between experiencing a power cut was 3.3 years. As such, power cuts for most parts of the county were considered rare occurrences, whereupon it was intimated that some people were perhaps not as prepared for such events as others. Power cuts were more likely to occur in West Lancashire and Ribble Valley districts. Electricity North West was currently replacing overhead lines in Ribble Valley with underground cable. It was noted that approximately 80% of the network was underground.

 

In referencing Greater Manchester's ambition to become carbon neutral by 2038, it was noted that Electricity North West would welcome working with the county council on its carbon plan and aspirations. Officers also made reference to a Lancashire Energy Strategy which was produced during 2018. However, no further action or confirmation of its endorsement had been communicated.

 

With regard to vulnerable customers it was highlighted that when faults occurred on the network, for some people it was a considerable inconvenience and in some cases life-threatening i.e. people who are medically dependent on electricity. There was a need to look at alternative ways of providing electricity. It was reported that Electricity North West maintained a Priority Services Register (PSR) and worked with a number of organisations to support vulnerable customers including Citizens Advice. The Committee was informed that as well as providing debt advice, Citizens Advice also provided energy advice.

 

In addition to this Electricity North West was trialling its industry leading data sharing with United Utilities in its "Tell us Once" initiative. With consent from a person, it could share data with United Utilities and was hoping to roll this out with other utility companies. Electricity North West was also in the process of identifying areas of fuel poverty.

 

On emerging issues the Committee was informed that in November 2018, Electricity North West had published a report on 'Distribution Future Electricity Scenarios (DFES) and Regional Insights across the North West' including Lancashire. A copy of which is set out on their website. A webinar (online seminar) event was to be held on 28 March 2019, which aimed to provide participants with the opportunity to find out more about how levels of demand and generation were anticipated. The Committee was also informed of the Manchester Green Summit that was to be held on 25 March 2019. Electricity North West was also supporting the Climate and Environmental Emergency Conference in Lancaster on 29 March 2019.

Given the duration passed in considering this item, it was;

 

Resolved: That the formulation of recommendations be considered under item 7 - External Scrutiny Committee Work Programme 2018/19.

 

Supporting documents: