We sold our Central Networks business in April 2011 but in 2010 we were committed to conducting ourselves honestly, ethically, legally and with integrity in everything we did.
The new Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSoP) introduced by regulator Ofgem in April 2010 as part of the fifth Distribution Price Control (DPCR5), also helped us improve customer service levels. We saw an increase from 3 to 32 separate GSoPs which coverede a broad range of activities from quotation through to delivery and completion of connections work. The standards are split into three core categories:
- Metered quotations
- Other metered standards
- Unmetered standards
The metered quotations require all requests for both outline and formal offers to be issued within a specified time. Other metered standards require us to contact customers within a specified time period following receipt of their acceptance and payment for a new connection, with agreed dates for starting and completing works and, where applicable, completing separate connection energisation on agreed dates.
In addition, we were audited to ensure that we could capture, monitor and report on our performance to the GSoPs. This audit took place during July 2010 when Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) visited teams across the business over a four-day period and passed our systems and processes with only a few minor areas for improvement.
As an overall licence obligation, we were required to meet a minimum performance level of 90% each quarter. The standards came into effect on 1 October 2010 and during our first quarter we achieved 99.8% and 99.3% performance overall for the east and west respectively. We also formed one of the UK’s first utility connections alliance with Morrison Utility Services (MUS), to provide an integrated service to connections customers in the east and north west.