Operational performance
Customer satisfaction
Our culture focuses on understanding what our customers want and expect and providing service that meets those needs, tailoring it to their individual requirements whenever we can. This approach has earned us another year of increased customer satisfaction.
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While the safety of our employees and the public is always our number one priority, customer satisfaction has been a key strategic focus for UK Power Networks since its formation in 2010.
We have built a culture in which everyone who works for the company recognises the importance of doing what is right for our customers. Since those early days of UK Power Networks, we have improved our customer satisfaction ratings every year. This year, 2023/24, we once again achieved an industry-leading Broad Measure of Customer Satisfaction (BMoCS) score from Ofgem of 94%, up from 93.8% in the previous year.
We provide a safe, reliable, cost-effective power supply. As the economy reduces its reliance on fossil fuels and progresses towards Net Zero emissions, ever-greater pressure on the clean electricity network means we are continually upping our game. We have met the twin challenges of increasing customer service expectations and the inexorable rise in demand for renewable generation head on, increasing our customer satisfaction on an already high base. The culture we have built at UK Power Networks means our people are highly motivated to put themselves in the shoes of our customers and deliver better and better service every time.
A more granular approach
We are now one year into the new regulatory period, RIIO-ED2, which began in April 2023. This has heralded a more granular approach to measuring customer satisfaction; we now measure it in categories such as business customers, low-carbon technology customers and vulnerable customers. This gives us a far superior level of detail that supports our targeted approach to taking care of our customers. These insights mean that we have adapted some of the ways that we approach customer service, such as how to triage customer enquiries and which partners we work with to deliver that service. For example, we have changed the order in which things happen in the connections process. Having an engineer visit the property early in the process means we understand the customers’ requirements better. This in turn means that the connection is much more likely to be right first time, particularly in the case of a complex installation.
No.1
Awarded the best Distribution Network Operator (DNO) in Ofgem’s Broad Measure of Customer Satisfaction
94%
Our best ever Customer Satisfaction Score of 94%
92%
Customer Satisfaction Score for low-carbon technology customers
Our performance highlights
- Customer Satisfaction Score (%)
94%
Customer Satisfaction Scores
Ranked No. 1
Ofgem ranked us No.1 DNO for our Broad measure of Customer Satisfaction Score
Challenging assumptions to free up connections
Our commitment to excellent customer satisfaction applies throughout the business: in the field, at the corporate level and everything in between. We want to support customers in their wish to decarbonise their lives and we recognise that there are infrastructure challenges thwarting that ambition. The vast majority of projects that want to connect to our network can do so, and individual householders who want to connect clean energy technology like electric vehicle charge points and solar panels can continue to do so. Constraints on the national transmission network mean there is not always enough capacity to connect much larger projects in all areas. UK Power Networks is leading the industry in accelerating large-scale connections.
We are challenging established industry assumptions to free up capacity for renewables to connect. We are leading a UK-wide project called Technical Limits which is freeing up nearly 4 GW of capacity for new connections in our licence areas alone, cutting years off the waiting times for large renewable energy projects to connect.
How we are keeping our customers satisfied
Our innovation strategy
Infrastructure for 12 new ultra-rapid charge points
I welcome this further investment by Extra, UK Power Networks and IONITY, which will improve EV charging provision on England’s motorway network. This will not only support EV drivers on UK roads, but also help the Government’s drive towards a greener motor industry.”
Anthony Browne
Former Decarbonisation Minister
UK Power Networks has delivered new electricity infrastructure to power 12 new IONITY ultra-rapid charge points between J9 and J10 of the M25 at Extra Motorway Service Area’s (MSA) Cobham Services to support EV uptake, reduce carbon emissions and improve local air quality. As part of our Green Recovery programme, power upgrades are progressing at several motorway service stations to connect more electric vehicle chargers. At Cobham, UK Power Networks has installed 5 km of new 33,000-volt cabling and new equipment at a substation in Effingham.
What this means for our customers
This investment in power infrastructure for the motorway network at Cobham Services will enable more drivers to make the switch to EVs, improve air quality and reduce carbon emissions. It will also promote jobs and economic growth.
Data driving our approach
Our business, along with many others, is hungry for more and better data. The insights from well-managed data are driving change at UK Power Networks. Our user-focused approach to data management has had a significant impact on operational success throughout the business. Our systematic improvements in data handling and analysis have contributed to that success. Rigorous data quality measures have helped instil deep trust in our data, so we can make informed decisions based on reliable insights.
In relation to how we serve customers, for instance, we now have same-day tracking of customer service performance.
This means we can see the detail of how we are performing at a granular level as well as being able to see trends mapped against the customer journey. This attention to detail means we can spot where there are problems in the process and act quickly to rectify them.
