Utilities provider seeks customers’ input to shape future of its gas supply services
IT’S one of the biggest companies in Wales in terms of revenue and employee numbers. And now Wales & West Utilities, the company that looks after the pipe infrastructure that brings gas to homes and businesses across Wales and the south-west of England, has just launched a major consumer consultation programme.
The Newport-based company, which deploys more than 2,000 people from Wrexham to Redruth, is asking its customers to shape the future direction of the company and the services it provides.
Wales & West Utilities has an annual turnover of £427m and its network is used by around 40 gas supply companies, serving around 2.5 million homes and businesses.
Around 60% of its staff are based in Wales. Gas passing through its pipeline network comes from a variety of sources, including the North Sea, liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East shipped into Milford Haven and Norway. It currently also has around 18 biomethane connections to its network.
Here its Llanelli-born chief executive, Graham Edwards, gives further insight into the business.
Q: People will know their energy supply company, but not necessarily the firm that owns the gas supply infrastructure. Is that fair?
A: Yes, people across Wales are forgiven for not knowing much about us The 35,000km of gas pipe – in which we are investing £150m a year each year upgrading – we look after are mostly underground and out of mind. But we own and operate the pipes that bring gas to the homes and businesses of 7.5 million people across 20% of the UK.
We invest £2m a week to upgrade old metal gas pipes to new plastic ones so the gas network is fit for the future, we connect 11,000 new homes and businesses to the gas network annually, and we’re the gas emergency service, responding to 80,000 gas leaks a year within 40 minutes on average.
Customers pay for our services through their domestic gas bill. Our charges make up just under 20% of a typical bill – around £128 a year or 35 pence a day.
Q: Why are you engaged in a public consultation exercise?
A: Given that we’re almost 20% of a domestic gas bill, we strongly believe consumers should have a say in what services we deliver and how we deliver them. Unlike supply companies, who can set their own prices, we are a highly regulated business, with our charges set at the start of each regulatory period by our regulator Ofgem.
Our next period starts in 2021 and we are already thinking about what our services should look like for the years beyond this so we can deliver for the communities we serve now and for generations to come.
Q: But can consumers really have an influence?
A: Absolutely. We’re at an early stage in putting together our future business plans and we want our customers’ views on a range of issues. We want to know what they think on our levels of service, our emergency response standards and our level of investment.
We also want to hear what further support we can give to vulnerable customers. We have put a huge amount of focus into this key area in recent years, working with a number of organisations to offer low-cost gas connections and financial support for appliance repairs. We want to know what else we can do to support those most in need.
We want our customers’ views on getting the balance right between investing to maintain and improve our services and prepare the gas network for the future, while keeping bills low. We understand the financial pressure households are under and we remain committed to keeping our portion of the gas bill to a minimum – we have already reduced the cost of our services since 2013 from £145 to £128 today.
This is a significant achievement, contributed to in large part by the 2,000 great people we’ve got across our business and partner organisations who are committed to excellent service and performance.
Q: If your charges have come down, why aren’t consumers seeing the benefit in their gas prices?