Dear stakeholders,

Welcome to our October stakeholder newsletter.

On 2 August, Iberdrola agreed to acquire 88% of our business. This month that transaction has now completed, resulting in Iberdrola now having majority ownership of Electricity North West Limited. Read more below and HERE.

We were delighted to receive the Investors in People (IIP) Silver accreditation, something that is awarded to just 22% of accredited businesses. Investors in People is the international standard for people management.

In October we experienced our first named storm of the season: Storm Ashley. Our engineers restored power to more than 20,000 properties. High winds caused branches and trees to hit overhead lines causing multiple issues on the network. We received 2,570 calls during the incident and all of our customers registered onto our PSR were contacted. Read the press release HERE. 

On 17 October we held our bi-annual DSO conference, at the North Lakes Hotel in Penrith with others joining us online. With a focus on flexibility and data, the well-attended event showcased how we are advancing our DSO initiatives. Stakeholders engaged in vibrant conversations and explored how ENWL’s DSO activities are directly benefiting them, as well as how we plan to continue delivering value through enhanced flexibility services and greater data transparency. Thank you to all of our stakeholders who attended. 

Our 40-strong 2024 apprenticeship intake have now embarked on their three year journey. We currently have over 120 apprentices on our schemes. Electricity North West are inviting anyone interested in applying for their 2025 apprenticeship programme to register their interest online to be the first to hear when the programme opens for applications this autumn. 

To register visit: www.enwl.co.uk/apprenticeships. 

This month, join us as we collaborate with Open Date Manchester and Kraken at the Electricity Data Dive event in Manchester, we're also speaking at the Energy Innovation Awards, there are updates on Extra Care and Innovation, customers can now report a power cut online, and there’s a roundup of all the latest news including the recent Electricity Network Association update on the removal of ‘zombie’ connection projects and freeing up capacity on the electricity network.

In this month's newsletter...

Electricity Data Dive event

Extra Care Register

Report a power cut online

Innovation update

Latest news

Partner updates

Best wishes,

The Stakeholder Engagement Team 

On 2 August, Iberdrola agreed to acquire 88% of our business. This month that transaction has now completed, resulting in Iberdrola now having majority ownership of Electricity North West Limited. and all other companies in the group. 12% remains with our Japanese shareholders.

We are pleased to share this update from Iberdrola which was issued on Tuesday 22 October. Our colleagues and our Trade Unions have been briefed.

For now it is business as usual as the process continues to go through the usual regulatory approvals and we will keep you updated. Thank you for your continued support.

We’re thrilled to announce that Electricity North West will be participating and guest speaking at the Open Data Manchester CIC Electricity Data Dive event.

The Electricity Data Dive will be an opportunity to dig into and explore the electricity data made available as open data from Electricity North West.

From tracking the electricity network, predicting demand, balancing the load, to switching power back quickly, the data created and used is rich and dynamic. Additionally, you’ll have the chance to explore electricity and energy data from Kraken.

If you’re interested in energy supply, sustainability, and how data can enable the North West to become more energy resilient, this is your chance to come with your ideas, questions, and explore.

As we head into winter, we need your help to make a real difference with a little Extra Care. Our data suggests there are approximately one million households in the North West who could benefit from Extra Care, and we’re on a mission to encourage as many households as possible to sign up for our free Extra Care register, If there’s a chance they may struggle during a power cut.

Starting in November, we’re launching our 2024 winter awareness ECR campaign across radio stations and social media.

We know that by working together, we can reach even more people who may need our support in a power cut and we would love to invite you to collaborate with us by sharing our Extra Care message through your organisation newsletters, e-newsletters, and social media channels.

If you think you can support please email us at partnerships@enwl.co.uk and we will share our winter toolkit which includes newsletter adverts, written copy and social media assets,

Extra care, extra support, extra help when you need us most ... find out more HERE. 

Customers can now report a power cut online using our easy-to-use form. After simply entering a post code and selecting the address, our system will contact the customer’s smart meter, if they have one, to detect if it’s an issue with their supply, meter or if it’s an internal issue.  All customers with or without a smart meter can then report a power cut by adding their contact details, so we can keep them updated with progress.

Our system then records the fault in real time and arranges for it to be investigated as soon as possible

The ability for customers to be able to report a power cut online enables them to report anywhere, anytime.  There’s no need for customers to call or wait in a queue and we’ll keep them updated with progress until power is restored.

So, next time you’re in a power cut, report it online by using our Report a power cut online form. 

Following success earlier this year in the Regen Green Awards, the Innovation Team have been nominated for more awards, in the This Is Manchester Awards, the 2024 Prolific North Tech Awards, the Electrical Industry Awards and the edie Net Zero Awards.

Our work on the Smart Street project, adding new technology to local substations to balance electricity consumption across an area, has been shortlisted as Smart Systems and Flexibility Project of the Year at the edie Net Zero awards.

Also the Innovation of the Year: Systems and Software category for reducing annual domestic consumption, saving about £70 a year for households in the scheme. The awards celebrate individuals and organisations who spearhead the UK’s transition towards a Net Zero carbon economy, and will be announced at the end of November.

The Smart Street project is also through to the final of the the 2024 Prolific North Tech Awards, and the final of the Electric Industry Awards, which recognise the incredible innovators, teams, and organisations driving progress in the region through their projects.

You can find out more about these projects by visiting Our approach to innovation (enwl.co.uk).

The Innovation Team had a great response at the 2024 Energy Innovation Summit this week.

We talked to hundreds of industry colleagues and wider stakeholders about our Innovation Projects, and we had colleagues presenting about BiTraDER, Net Zero Terrace and QUEST.

Chris Greenfield on Growing flexibility and services to make it more accessible, fair and beneficial.

Helen Seagrave on Enabling an inclusive transition that supports low income and vulnerable customers through their decarbonisation journey.

Andy Howard on Technology solutions to increase capacity of existing infrastructure to support growth in renewables and Low Carbon Technologies (LCTs).

Find out more HERE. 

Electricity North West’s ‘CoolDown’ project has received £500,000 innovation funding to explore how homes and businesses can use air conditioning systems flexibly to help balance electricity demand throughout the day, reducing the need for additional expensive infrastructure.

CoolDown is funded by energy network users and consumers through the Strategic Innovation Fund, an Ofgem programme managed in partnership with Innovate UK. The Cooldown project is a testament to the power of innovation and collaboration in the face of climate change. With this new funding, the project is poised to make significant strides in its mission to create a more sustainable future. Read more HERE.

After months of hard work, Electricity North West has achieved the Investors in People (IIP) Silver accreditation, something that is awarded to just 22% of accredited businesses. Investors in People is the international standard for people management, defining what it takes to lead, support and manage people effectively to achieve sustainable business results. Read more HERE. 

Electricity North West is celebrating its highest intake of apprentices since launching a dedicated programme in 2017.

40 apprentices from across the region have now embarked on a three-year journey which will see them train to become specialists, keeping power flowing across the region for years to come.

The new recruits have already carried out two weeks’ learning at Electricity North West’s state-of-the-art Training Academy. Now, they will join one of the organisation's many depots throughout the region gaining on-site experience. Read more HERE. 

A total of 10GW of “zombie” electricity generation projects have been wiped from the grid connections queue, according to figures released by the Energy Networks Association.

“Zombie” projects, also known as phantom projects, are schemes that are in the queue for grid connection but may not even have land rights and haven’t applied for planning consents. They have been blocking the way for more developed and realisable new energy projects to connect to the grid leading to a connectivity logjam for new projects trying to connect to the grid. Read more HERE. 

Kelvatek’s technology is expected to be widely adopted by networks to meet safety commitments and get power back up and running quickly in the event of a storm. LineSIGHT, a monitoring and fault management system for overhead lines. The technology offers the capability to accurately locate major outage issues such as faults, downed lines, and low-hanging conductors. Read more HERE. 

You can keep-up-to-date with the latest news and opinions from across the organisation and energy industry here.

Westmorland and Furness Council is pleased to announce the completion of its 2MW solar farm at Sandscale Park in Barrow.

A first for the council, the renewable energy project marks a key milestone in the council’s ongoing efforts to combat climate change and meet its Net Zero targets.

The site, which has been successfully completed in six months, will generate green electricity to offset the council’s carbon emissions, in line with its Carbon Management Strategy and Climate Action Plans. It is the first of more schemes to come as part of the council’s wider decarbonisation programme of work.

Thanks to almost 3,700 solar panels, the site is expected to save around 507 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually and generate enough to power the council’s five leisure centres or approximately 730 homes per year, based upon average UK households.

If you are interested in finding out more about any of our stakeholder advisory panels, or if there is any topic you’d like to see in the next edition of this newsletter, please get in touch with us at stakeholderengagement@enwl.co.uk.

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