The importance of stakeholder engagement

Shirley Robertson, Head of Business Sustainability, explains the importance of effective stakeholder as we develop our RIIO-T2 business plan, and how the recently formed user group will play a central role in its progress.

As we continue to prepare for the next electricity transmission price control period (RIIO-T2), from 2021 onwards, enhanced Stakeholder Engagement is a crucial element of developing our business plan, so it’s vital we actively and effectively engage with our stakeholders – from politicians, generation developers and Distribution Network Operators (DNOs),  to energy consumers and their representatives, community groups, landowners and environmental agencies – to make sure their needs are reflected in our future plans.

Our newly created RIIO-T2 User Group will play a key role in scrutinising and providing independent expert challenge to the development and delivery of our business plan. Through detailed engagement with our business experts, the User Group’s feedback will directly shape how we plan to meet customers’ needs from the north of Scotland transmission network from 2021 onwards.

The group is made up of eight experts who have a varied background in areas including non-traditional business models, innovation, fuel poverty, community energy and consumer research, and every member is there to challenge us on our thinking and play a guiding role on the development and delivery of our RIIO-T2 business plan.

In July this year we appointed Tracey Barlow as independent chair of the RIIO-T2 User Group. We’re delighted to have Tracey on board – she will bring a wealth of experience and insight to the role – and along with the other members of the group, will ensure our business plan makes commercial sense and represents our stakeholders’ expectations and needs.

The User Group recently held its fourth session, and we had a team on hand to film short interviews with Tracey, alongside Niall Stuart and Geoff Aitkenhead, to gather their initial thoughts on RIIO-T2 and how the User Group will play a role in our development.

I hope this blog and video will give you more of an insight into what we’re doing behind the scenes as we continue to develop our business plan for the future. If you have any feedback for the RIIO-T2 team or would like to know more about how you can get involved, please email yourplanourfuture@sse.com

To find out more about the User Group, click on the photo above and it will take you to the video.