You said, we did Reporting back to connections stakeholders

You said, we did Reporting back to connections stakeholders

Introduction When I launched our Connections Customer Steering Panel in September 2015 I said that we were committed to not just listening to, but also acting on your feedback. The aim of this short booklet is to demonstrate we are 100% committed as a business, from the top down, to acting on the comments, ideas and suggestions we receive from you, our connections customers. Here you will find comments received at the launch of the Connections Customer Steering Panel at our meetings in Glasgow and Winchester and details of how we have responded to them. We recognise it doesn t stop there. We realise we have further to go to ensure our service meets your expectations. I would like to urge you to use today and other engagement activities we have planned for the forthcoming year. They provide you with the opportunity to tell us what you think we need to do differently to deliver an excellent connections service. Colin Nicol - Managing Director Networks 2

Connections Customer Steering Panel (CCSP) Focus on key areas at future steering panels. Have experts on hand to show facilities on website and explain processes In response to customer feedback we are now theming our steering panels to give a particular focus on a specific area of our connections service, for example Innovation at our February meeting. We are holding website demonstrations for customers at both our Steering Panels in February 2016. Our engagement days are designed around you and our agendas are informed by what you tell us you want to see. Our engagement days are hosted by subject-matter experts from our commercial and delivery teams at SSEPD. 3

It s vital that this sort of forum has senior management attendance/involvement on-going We agree: Our Managing Director, Colin Nicol will attend all meetings of the CCSP both in the North of Scotland and Central Southern England. The Panels are chaired by Director of Commercial and Connections, Mark Rough and meetings are attended by senior management from across our connections business. Make innovation a theme of future meetings / Would be good to see what innovation you are involved in and what you are rolling out Due to popular demand and the importance of innovation in the way the Network is managed we have included a presentation by Andrew Roper, Director of Engineering and Investment in this meeting to discuss current progress with innovation and flexible connections. Would be good to update the plans and commitments following the steering group meetings and adding actions Based on the breakout session at the previous CCSP we have created this booklet to show how we have acted on the feedback received. Listed in this booklet are the changes that we have worked to implement.. The more substantial initiatives will be taken forward and will be reviewed for inclusion as potential commitments in our next work plan. 4

Engagement Key customers need regular contact not just emails Customer Connections Managers are now in place to offer a key local point of contact for our customers and make it easier to connect to our network. They have been making initial contact with customers and are looking forward to integrating themselves between designers, operational staff and the customer. Contact details of Customer Connections Managers (Demand) and our Commercial Contract Managers (Generation) can be found on our connections website: Customer Connections Managers Available at www.ssepd.co.uk/generationconnectionshome at the bottom of the page Commercial Contract Managers Available at www.ssepd.co.uk/connections/developers under useful links 5

Improved use of social media to communicate to customers We are increasing our use of social media to communicate with you. In addition to a Facebook and Twitter account which are run by a dedicated social media team, we have set up a Connections Engagement LinkedIn group which acts as an online noticeboard for customers highlighting key announcements, events, and changes in policy. The group has over 300 members and we will continue to expand our use of this channel over the coming year. If you are interested in joining our group please search for SSEPD Connections Engagement on LinkedIn. A local as well as regional contact would be beneficial We have produced online contact maps of commercial contract managers and customer connections managers by region and locality with full contact details. We are also looking to create a wider visibility of our regional structure and key personnel. More engagement needed! We are told about plans and not asked Taking this comment onboard we are: Creating an online register for all stakeholders that wish to be consulted on policy changes and kept up to date with our plans and commitments Dedicating a breakout session today that will give all members an opportunity to comment on the potential commitments we are going to take forward and to let us know what else you would like to see us working on. 6

Prompt customers about meetings and engagement activities Set up a new forum for unmetered customers in the SEPD area We issue a quarterly newsletter to everyone registered on our engagement database email connectionsfeedback@sse.com to be added to our mailing list. We have improved and expanded our online events calendar www.ssepd.co.uk/stakeholderevent/basicsearch to enable customers to catch up with the presentations, minutes and images of the event. We have set up our unmetered engagement forum and the first of these events was held on 19 January. The agenda for the meeting was informed by unmetered customers and their ideas and suggestions have informed future plans and commitments. Further meetings will be held subject to customer demand and will be widely advertised, if you are interested in attending please email connectionsfeedback@sse.com. Attendees at our engagement days, steering panel meetings and connections surgeries are proactively contacted by our team inviting them to future events. All events are advertised via social media. 7

Events More workshops offered for small businesses that are often at a disadvantage We recognise that many customers, particularly small businesses find it difficult to take time out to attend our meetings so we are making a concerted effort to go to them. We have established a formal relationship with the Home Builders Federation and presented to their members at their South West Forum and South Forum. We hold regular meetings with representatives of the Federation of Small Businesses and are consulting with them to find out how to involve their members with our future plans. 8

More connection surgery dates Our connections surgeries continue to be incredibly popular and wellattended. During 2015-2016 142 customers attended our surgeries and we are pleased to confirm we will be holding an increased number of surgeries moving forward. Since the Steering Panel meeting in September we have reviewed the effectiveness of our surgeries to ensure they are continuing to meet customer needs. Our surgeries, particularly those held in the south of England were regularly oversubscribed last year, so in response to customer feedback we have increased the number of surgeries we run and also included Poole depot as a venue. Customer Connections Managers will be taking a leading role at surgeries to act as a key point of contact for our customers throughout their projects with us. For more information on dates and locations please visit our events calendar www.ssepd.co.uk/stakeholderevent/basicsearch 9

Communication Webinars would help demand customers who tend to be time poor/ publish webinars on YouTube We are investigating Webinar facilities with the aim of trialling our first sessions soon and will keep you up to date with our progress. It would be great to receive a glossy plans and commitments through the post. We realise we need to continuously improve the way we communicate. We need to make you aware of our plans and commitments in order you can provide feedback to improve our service. Following your feedback we sent hard copies of our Half Year Update to all panel members. We also issued copies of this report to customers who have engaged with us through the year. In future we plan to communicate other publications to customers in this way. 10

Quarterly update noting progress against each action To be able to update customers quickly and easily with all news, events and policy changes we have created a news feature on our website. This can be found at www.ssepd.co.uk/ice. We are also developing a function on our website where you can register for connections focussed email updates. This is due to go live in February 2016. Extending SSEPD connections team office hours We agree that businesses no longer operate 9-5 and we want to be available for customers when you need to speak to us about your projects. With this in mind we are trialling extended opening hours of our connections and engineering department. We are also continuing to actively improve our website and processes to enable more customers to self-serve. 11

Information provision Information available to ICP s is very poor In October 2015 we held two engagement days aimed at our ICP s and IDNO s which was attended by 53 customers. We received excellent feedback from attendees about the information provided at these events and further events are planned for the future. We now produce a newsletter aimed at updating ICP s and IDNO s on latest policy developments and other key information. Contact connectionsfeedback@sse.com to be added to our mailing list. We have established a secure area on our web site where ICP s &IDNO s can find more information on equipment, network diagrams and GIS. If you have any feedback on this area of our website we would love to hear from you. Please email us at connectionsfeedback@sse.com or if you would like to register www.ssepd.co.uk/competitioninconnections. 12

Staged payments Introduce staged payments for communities and small businesses As part of our commitment to improve customer service we have recently introduced staged payments for all customers dependent on timescales and costs of your project. We are keen to hear from customers about the usefulness of this change let us know what you think. connectionsfeedack@sse.com 13

Heatmap Update the heatmap information more frequently We recognise information is only valuable to customers when it is timely and accurate. We commit to making sure our heatmaps are updated every quarter. You can now download the heatmap data in excel spreadsheet format and soon you will also be able to download it as a kmz file which can be overlaid on google earth. More information of reinforcement works can also be found in our Long Term Development Statement which can be downloaded here: www.ssepd.co.uk/ltds. Transmission dates are important in delivery of an overarching connection date. We aim to make it clearer where the transmission dates can be found North & South. Currently the transmission dates for the North can be found on our Generation heatmap www.ssepd.co.uk/generationavailability and the South can be found by contacting our Commercial Contract Managers, details of which can be found at the bottom of the page www.ssepd.co.uk/ GenerationConnectionsHome 14

Pro-active approach to available capacity not used Moving forward: Other initiatives taken forward We are proposing to action the following: Notify customers who are not utilising their full allowable capacity Offer to change EGCA free of charge to reflect reduced generation Amend the terms and conditions to stop customers capacity storing subject to industry approval. Constrained offers made possible/easier Moving forward: SSEPD Active Solutions team will be working with our commercial department to formalise a process of applying for a flexible /constrained offer. 15

Help unmetered customers prepare standard inventories Moving forward: We have identified this as being a common issue for unmetered connection customers and have implemented the following: Working in partnership with other Distribution Network Operators and the Scottish Future Trust in their role-out of a dedicated street furniture toolkit to assist local authorities in upgrading their existing lighting stock to LED. We are going to be assisting local authorities and developers in identifying, recording and declaring their inventory returns, including reviewing any historical records and speaking with the customers maintenance contractor. Improve the information we provide when issuing our connection agreements including an easy to navigate spreadsheet to find charge codes and switch regimes. Online applications process can be tedious Moving forward: Phase 2 of our online application facility will include several improvements that customers have asked for, for example: Excavation tick box Document download area for large sized documents Self populating options Senior engineers have a different opinion in final base line design Moving forward: We will be introducing a new quality and compliance checklist that is completed by all designers and approved by their unit managers. Senior engineers will also be aware of this checklist and it should mean that both designers and engineers are working from the same design specification. Other commitments that have been raised at the Connections Customer Steering Panel will make there way into next year plans, however they have been changed to encompass wider feedback received by customers. 16

If you have any questions, comments or would like to be kept updated with our progress or are simply interested in finding out more please contact: connectionsfeedback@sse.com 17