NORTHERN POWERGRID INVESTS £1.85M TO IMPROVE WEB AND TELEPHONY SYSTEMS AND ENSURES IT’S PREPARED FOR WINTER

Northern Powergrid, the company that powers everyday life for 8 million people across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, has invested £1.85m this year on improving the resilience of its web and telephony systems to support its customers.

The network operator has enhanced the capacity of its website so it can cope with peak demand six times greater than those seen during last winter’s storm season to ensure people can access information online about what is happening if their power supply is ever affected.

The company, which distributes electricity to 3.9 million homes and businesses, has also improved its online power cut map which is the quickest way for customers who have mobile phone access to get the latest information about when Northern Powergrid expects to restore their supplies. By encouraging customers who are digitally enabled to use the map to get information, it can help ensure its 24/7 contact centre can focus on supporting those customers who may be more vulnerable due to their medical or personal circumstances or may not have digital access to information.

Northern Powergrid has also invested in a new telephony system at its contact centre which can provide mass messaging to inform customers what it is doing to restore supplies. It has also grown its customer service team and increased its call handling capacity to help reduce waiting times.

As part of its preparation for winter Northern Powergrid has used its helicopters to fly more than 14,500km to inspect more than 148,500 of its assets. The aerial inspections complement foot patrols and the use of drones to check sections of its local network. The network operator has also invested £8.4m on vegetation management across more than 1,400 miles of its power lines to help reduce the risk of overgrown foliage being blown on to lines in severe weather and causing damage and disruption.

By the end of October, the network operator had replaced nearly 900 poles and has introduced a new rolling inspection programme.  It also plans to invest around £80m between 2023 and 2028 on climate resilience to help further protect its network from climate change and severe weather.

Louise Lowes, Northern Powergrid’s Head of Customer Services, said: “This year our team – from the frontline to those working behind the scenes in a wide range of roles - have worked hard to deliver new investments and improvements to the way we work so we can better support our customers as we head into winter.

“We have listened to and acted on feedback, and we remain committed to continually improving our services and investing further to improve our network. We want our customers to know that the average 25p a day it costs them, as part of the network charges on their bill from their chosen supplier, for our services is being used to help create a more resilient, greener energy system and fund investments that will help support the communities we serve.”

Northern Powergrid tracks the weather every day as part of its approach to maintaining and improving the resilience of its network and being prepared for the winter months. Find out more on its dedicated Weather Aware page. The network operator has also set out a proposed £3bn investment plan for 2023-2028 to support the creation of a smarter, greener energy system that will enable the growth of low carbon technologies like electric vehicles, solar and heat pumps.  

Helping customers be prepared is also important and Northern Powergrid recently launched its annual winter campaign to assist customers and encourage anyone who may be more vulnerable, due to their medical or personal circumstances, to join its free Priority Services Membership.

Northern Powergrid is encouraging people to be prepared so they know what to do if their power supply is ever affected, whether that’s because of a fault on the local electricity network or severe weather damaging electrical equipment.

It is recommending people bookmark its improved website and power cut map on their mobile and add 105 – the free national power cut number - to their contacts so they know where to get information. It is also directing customers to a range of improved online advice on how to be prepared so individuals, families and businesses know what to do and can take action to help reduce the impact. The new ‘be prepared’ page also provides links to information about:

• Northern Powergrid’s discretionary customer welfare support for people affected by a long duration power cut,
• how Northern Powergrid works with local partners to support customers and inform wider regional responses in communities in escalated events, and
• Northern Powergrid’s commitment to customer service and improving the services it offers now and in the future.

To hear directly from Andy Bilclough, Director of Field Operations, Louise Lowes, Head of Customer Services and Jim Cardwell, Head of Policy Development, about what improvements Northern Powergrid has made since last winter’s storms visit https://youtu.be/ZlzLbRkCJwQ