The CEG met on 7 August at NGN’s depot in Washington- the operational hub for delivery of the gas pipe replacement and maintenance programmes and other capital expenditure projects, and for emergency gas safety services.
It was the first meeting for our newest member Rupika Madura, whom some of you may know was instrumental in establishing enhanced stakeholder engagement at the start of RIIO-2 when she worked at Ofgem, the energy regulatory body.
Three members of the CEG left at the end of June. They had been involved since the CEG was established and played a huge role in challenging the company’s business plan and more recently in scrutinising delivery of NGN’s commitments to customers.
Rupika brings not only a background in energy regulation, but professional experience of developing strategies on data and digitalisation, and on diversity equality and inclusion – adding to the breadth of knowledge we already have and which are need to fulfil our remit.
The main focus of our meeting was to gain insights into the management of operational delivery. We were keen to understand how NGN was able to maintain such high customer scores relating to one and two hour response times for gas escapes to meet key licence conditions and how the pipe replacement targets are ahead of the Health and Safety Executive requirements. We heard that efficiencies in costs and improvements in services are achieved through work management of the direct labour force and the 14 delivery service provider (DSP) contractors.
As well as NGN operational managers, we met with one of the 14 DSPs who shared their experience of working for NGN and meeting high customer service standards; investing in new equipment to excavate pipes more quickly; and increasing customer feedback for planned Repex works through staff training and incentives.
We also took a close look at how NGN is seeking to meet its environmental targets, and its actual performance to the end of the second year of this 5 year regulatory period. Gas leaks (methane) account for over 91% of NGN’s green house gas emissions and the CEG had expressed concern that performance had been below target for year one. We were informed that the company is now back on track through a mixture of the Repex programme and pressure management equipment. Some other environmental targets are proving challenging with a number of commitments not on track at this stage- particularly fleet replacement due to lengthy delivery times of electric vehicles and a lack of suitable vehicles for some essential functions. We shall continue to monitor this area closely. In the coming months we shall be recruiting for a new CEG member with experience and professional experience/knowledge of environmental and sustainability practices. Please look out for more details on the NGN and CEG websites if you are interested.
The final main topic on our agenda for this session was data and digitalisation- and in particular the development of NGN’s open data portal which they hope to launch in September.
There are clearly many issues to be considered in making data openly available. Amongst other things we explored what data will people find useful and how will they use it and how GDPR will be applied to ensure no data is inappropriately or illegally shared to ensure cyber security and protect customers.
As usual we reviewed the stakeholder engagement plan, including proposals for NGN’s annual stakeholder conference on 14 September, and we hope that you will participate to ensure your priorities and concerns are reflected in future planning and delivery.
In the coming month we shall be shaping up our future work programme which will continue to scrutiny delivery of current commitments as well as business planning for the next price control period. If there are particular topics you would like the CEG to consider please let us know. At our next meeting we plan to look at NGN’s winter preparedness plans and support for vulnerable customers.