Customer research

An ambitious programme of ongoing customer research has helped us to identify some key priorities for our customers and wider stakeholders in the North West.

Customers have told us that our focus should be on keeping our customers’ lives running by providing reliable and uninterrupted electricity supplies and minimising disruption caused by power cuts. Whilst Covid-19 has currently increased concerns over the affordability of energy bills, our research shows that delivering a reliable network remains customers’ top priority.

“Nothing has changed, in fact the present situation has strengthened my opinion that a reliable network should be the top priority. Power cuts in lockdown cause even more stress and suffering for people, especially vulnerable people” (online community member).

There are also active debates in the region about other priorities, including the impact of climate change which is influencing a clear preference for proactively reducing the vulnerability of networks to storms, particularly in rural areas and the North West collectively acting to achieve the UK’s legally binding target to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

It is also clear that customers want us to continue supporting vulnerable customers, particularly during a power cut and ensure we are keeping customers’ bills as low as possible, without compromising on standards or safety.