Adding another award to a series of honors, PPL's electricity delivery company in the United Kingdom has earned nearly $1 million in awards from the U.K.'s chief electricity regulator for the company’s exemplary service to vulnerable customers and its social responsibility programs.
PPL's Western Power Distribution (WPD) affiliate earned the awards from the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). In making these awards for the first time ever, Ofgem commended WPD for its "breadth, depth and holistic approach" to community support.
The majority of WPD's award was in recognition of the company's programs for serving vulnerable customers, defined as the elderly, the disabled or people suffering from long-term illness. The remainder of the award was for social responsibility initiatives such as volunteer work performed by the company's apprentices in support of local schools and community organizations.
Among the community initiatives highlighted were:
- An anti-bullying booklet for new secondary school children in Bath, Bristol and parts of North Somerset. This was developed in conjunction with a local legislator and a national children's charity, Kidscape, and was distributed to more than 180,000 homes in the area.
- An annual Apprentice Challenge project in which new apprentice employees at the company spend three days in their local community improving the environment. The example used was a special school near Haverford West, resulting in the creation of an outdoor classroom and improved access to the school grounds.
Robert Symons, WPD's chief executive, said: "We take our role as a corporate citizen very seriously and believe it is the role of every company to put something back into the community it serves. However, to have our efforts recognized by an independent panel, and to be subsequently rewarded in this way is very satisfying.
"We will continue to be an active member of the community, and these funds will be reinvested in our community to support activities for the benefit of local organizations and groups in the future," Symons said.
"WPD's excellent performance in serving customers and being a good corporate citizen not only has made it a leader in the United Kingdom, but it also has resulted in sound financial performance," said Rick Klingensmith, president of PPL Global, the parent company of WPD. "In the United Kingdom and elsewhere, PPL employees are proving every day that an unyielding focus on superior customer service is the right thing to do."
In 2005, WPD was the only electricity distribution company in the U.K. to be rewarded by Ofgem for reliability and customer service, resulting in customer rates that provided additional revenues to WPD.
WPD, which serves about 2.6 million electricity delivery customers across southwest England and southwest Wales, also has earned the U.K.'s prestigious Charter Mark award five times since 1997. It is the government's top award for organizations delivering public service in the U.K., following detailed and rigorous assessment by inspectors across more than 60 areas of customer service.