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UTILITY WEEK | 22ND - 28TH MAY 2015 | 3 Leader Ellen Bennett This week 4 | Seven days 6 | Interview Bill McClymont, chief executive, Energetics Networked Energy 11 Policy & Regulation 11 | News Water market opening timetable 'increasingly tight' 12 | Analysis Ofgem's consultation on regulation and NTBMs 13 Finance & Investment 13 | News Eon and GIB press on with offshore project 15 | Analysis Seven Trent pays the price for a tough price review settlement 16 Operations & Assets 16 | Market view Wales & West Utilities CEO Graham Edwards looks back 18 | Event Roundtable report on future cities, the challenges and opportunities 21 Customers 21 | News Scottish Power breaks complaints record 23 | Research Secrets of SIM 26 Markets & Trading 26 | News Centrica increases import dependence 27 Community 27 | Event Stars Awards shortlist 30 | Reader of the week Adrian McConnell, trust manager, Gas Safety Trust 31 | Disconnector Customer service that comes from the heart Does great customer service come from the heart, or from the regulator? As utilities seek to rebuild public trust, it's an important question. Certainly, in the water sector, regulatory tools have been used to great effect to create a more customer-focused culture. As we explore in our Secrets of SIM report, an extract from which is published in this week's magazine (p23), water companies across the board have delivered a significant upli in service since the measure's introduction in 2010. Through an astute combination of reputational and financial levers, the SIM has put customer service firmly on the board's agenda. Yet the measure has its limitations and its faults – as will any measure of customer service that is based on a small and random sample of individuals who by definition have had a negative cus- tomer experience. The case studies we explored as part of this report demonstrate how ticking the boxes of the SIM is just one aspect of customer service. Wessex Water, the poster boy of the league table, has focused on customer service since well before the introduction of the SIM, and it is the breadth and depth of its customer-centric culture that keeps the company at the top of the table. A regulator can't make a team of engineers on a site visit stop to buy a birthday card when they realise it's the customer's birthday – just one of the examples Wessex gave us of their Go the Extra Mile programme. That has to come from within the company, direct from the top. Other companies, motivated by the stick and carrot of the SIM and the wider legitimacy agenda, are following Wessex's example – many with notable success. This combination of the regulatory push and the collective will of the company is powerful; the conversation in water has changed from whether and how companies should focus on customers, to what more they can do. • As the Go the Extra Mile example shows, frontline customer service is all about having the right people on the ground. Our Stars Awards scheme, now in its second year, celebrates some of these unsung heroes of utilities. The stories behind this year's shortlist are nothing short of incredible – see p28. • Utility Week magazine will be taking its annual spring break next week, with no print issue on 29 May. Catch up with all the latest news and analysis at utilityweek.co.uk and we'll be back in print on 5 June. Ellen Bennett, Editor ellen.bennett@fav-house.com GAS 16 | Market view Wales & West Utilities CEO Graham Edwards looks back 26 | News Centrica increases import dependence WATER 11 | News Water market timetable 'increasingly tight' 13 | News Dee Valley refinances to fund AMP6 15 | Analysis Seven Trent pays the price for a tough price review settlement 23 | Market view Secrets of SIM special report ELECTRICITY 6 | Interview Bill McClymont, chief executive, Energetics Networked Energy 11 | News DNOs review system planning standard ENERGY 12 | Analysis Ofgem's consultation on regulation and NTBMs 13 | News Eon and GIB press on with offshore project 18 | Event Roundtable report on future cities, the challenges and opportunities 21 | News Scottish Power breaks complaints record 21 | News Capacity auctions central to security Knowledge worth keeping Visit the Downloads section of Utility Week's website http://www.utilityweek.co.uk/ downloads Salesforce: How the cloud can help meet business objectives http://bit.ly/1EFZjlj Vodafone: Machine- to-Machine (M2M) Utilities Insights http://bit.ly/1BDpCGZ