Operating fairly and responsibly is fundamental to our business and we recognise that the role we play in the communities in which we operate is incredibly important and something which we must manage responsibly. For us it’s not just about informing people about our approach to energy, it’s also about giving people the chance to question us on it.

We work with a variety of stakeholders and community partners to educate and support the people living in our areas of operation too. For us it’s important to seek continuously feedback from customers, stakeholders and colleagues to help us improve the service we provide. We’re doing more than ever to help people lower their energy bills by becoming more energy efficient. As well as offering advice and support across schools, communities and vulnerable groups, we’re bringing our winter advice bureau into the heart of cities across the UK and piloting smart meter technology to find other ways to help people understand and better manage their heating bills.

We also engage with NGOs and, although they don’t always agree with what we do, we are committed to having an open and honest debate about these complex issues. As well as engaging with key stakeholders face to face we’re also committed to finding new ways to engage people in the debate about energy. We recently launched our YouTube Talking Energy channel to give people somewhere to have a say on the future of energy in the UK and to question our approach and choices.

As such our ongoing conversations with all of our stakeholders is about finding common ground and ways to work together.

We’ve developed and embedded our responsible procurement process to foster a responsible culture across our supply chain, in line with our membership of the UN Global Compact. We’re also continuing to find ways to improve how we do business with our suppliers at every opportunity.

We continue to work with Age Concern to support our vulnerable customers through the Energy Right project where we train volunteers to carry out home energy checks and offer practical energy efficiency advice.

We also continued to support education with programmes such as The Energy Experience to create an energy literate generation able to make informed future energy choices and fostering a shift in young people’s attitudes and behaviour towards energy.

We also support the development of efficient and sustainable energy measures for community organisations through E.ON SOURCE, now the E.ON Sustainable Energy Fund.

2008 has been an amazing year for employee involvement with nearly 20% of our colleagues participating in aspects of our programme. Across the business, people have been getting involved in Team Challenges, Matched Funding, Matched Time and individual volunteering opportunities. We’ve been building on this achievement in 2009 and looking forward to continued success.

Over the past years, we’ve developed and embedded our responsible procurement process to foster a responsible culture across our supply chain, in line with our membership of the UN Global Compact. We now have over 900 suppliers who have signed up to our responsible procurement policy which represents 95% of our spend.