Have your say

We, at SSEPD, are in the process of developing our next round of investment plans for our distribution networks in the north of Scotland and in the south of England, which we are required to submit to Ofgem for their approval. These plans extend over the five year period from 2010 to 2015, and will cover the 33,000 Volt, 11,000 Volt and Low Voltage distribution networks.

SSEPD’s principal objective is to operate a safe and reliable electricity distribution network for our customers. Our plans aim to continue to extend and reinforce this network to meet growth in customer demand, and also provide for the renewal and refurbishment of our wood-pole overhead lines and our substations in order to improve levels of performance and supply reliability.

As part of ensuring supply reliability, we aim to restore supplies as quickly as possible in the event of interruptions. Our performance in terms of customer minutes lost and customer interruptions is a critical measure of the level of service we provide, and our performance over recent years in shown here for our south of England and north of Scotland networks.

A significant part of our five-year investment plans will be to continue to reinforce and upgrade the networks to meet these objectives. We expect to need to increase our expenditure from around £1Bn over the current five year period to £1.2-£1.3Bn over the 2010-2015 period.Ofgem have indicated that one of their priorities is to deliver good value for consumers by ensuring that companies provide, not only secure networks, but also more sustainable networks.

Climate change and renewable energy are forming a vital and increasing part of our lives and our business agendas. In order to help meet UK and Scottish Government targets, there is an increasing urgency to provide sustainable sources of energy distributed throughout our area, and closer to the people who use it. In addition, there are likely to be increased requirements placed on developers to meet lower or zero-carbon impacts from new developments. Ofgem have also indicated that another of their key priorities is to give network companies strong incentives to tackle climate change. 

In response to this we are also investing to improve our environmental impact and to meet the needs of renewable generation that is being developed in the region. In several of these areas, subject to Ofgem’s approval, we are able to consider increasing or decreasing the scope of the programme to meet, as far as possible, the expectations of the various stakeholders. The areas where we can improve our impact on the environment and respond to environmental impacts on our networks include:

• placing overhead cables underground in national scenic areas;
• reducing oil leakage from high voltage cables;
• reducing the release of sulphur hexafluoride from switchgear into the environment;
• reducing electrical losses on the distribution network;
• protection against flooding;
• improving the resilience of the network to storms;
• addressing network performance as experienced by our ‘worst-served customers’
• encouraging the connection of renewable generation; and
• reducing our carbon footprint in our operations.

Follow the links to find out more information about each issue.

We would like know your views on these issues and this is your chance to have your say on how we should proceed. What are your thoughts on the following questions?

1. Which issues do you consider to be the most important?
2. To what extent should we seek to address these issues?
3. Do you think we should only invest where there is clear value for money?

Contact us and let us know what you think. If you prefer, you can email distribution.consultation@scottish-southern.co.uk or write to:

Mark Smith
Network Development Manager
Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution
200 Dunkeld Rod
Perth
PH1 3AQ

As part of our consultation process we will be holding Stakeholder Engagement seminars in Perth on Thursday 2 October, and in Mortimer, Reading on Thursday 6 November 2008. Key stakeholders will be invited to hear a presentation on our plans for 2010 to 2015 and to exchange views on modifying the scope of these plans. A limited number of places are available for members of the public who wish to actively participate in the events. If you are interested in attending, please e-mail or write to us as above.