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igem news – yppc

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION DURING

GAS MAINS REPLACEMENT WORKS

By Dave Carter, Customer Support Officer at Once our work has been completed
Wales & West Utilities and YPPC 2019 finalist at the customer’s property, CSOs now
carry out a post-work visit to capture
WALES & WEST UTILITIES is a gas be made to improve our customers’ feedback and ensure a 10/10 service
distribution network (GDN) within the communication journey throughout our has been provided.
UK that provides gas supplies to around mains replacement work. These extra stages within the process
2.5 million premises across Wales and Whilst customers still receive an initial allow us to exchange contact details
South West England. notification letter informing them of our with customers in case there are any
In 2002, GDNs across the UK began work and a 48-hour notice before we affect urgent updates or in case the customer
replacing metal gas pipes with new their gas supply, a pre-work visit is now requires any further assistance
plastic ones in line with Health and carried out with the aim of contacting as throughout our work.
Safety Executive (HSE) policy. many customers as possible to discuss Whilst the Priority Services
This is part of a larger 30-year what will happen during the work. Register is used to identify vulnerable
programme which, in 2016/17 alone,
saw WWU send out 35,962 gas service
interruption letters to our customers. PRE-WORK CONTACT CARD
To ensure we provide a platinum
service to our customers, it is vital
that we communicate effectively when
informing customers of our intentions
to upgrade the network.
The former process of communication
for these works was to send customers
an initial notification letter informing
them of our work. A WWU engineering
team would then arrive on site and
begin the works providing customers
with a 48-hour notification letter before
interrupting their gas supply.
The work would then be completed
at the customer’s property and
subsequently the project finished.
In 2017, customers scored us 8.62/10
for our advanced notification and 8.53/10
for communication during our works.
Following customer feedback and
colleague engagement, the following
challenges were identified as areas that
required improvement:
Communication methods between us
and our customers
Internal communication
Changes were then made to the
replacement work process with the end
goal being to improve the above points.

Customer Support Officers
In June 2017, WWU began a trial with
four Customer Support Officers (CSOs)
covering the Bridgwater, Bristol and East
Wales areas, with the aim of supporting
the gas mains replacement programme.
Following a successful trial, the role
was implemented in April 2018 across
the network, bringing in five additional
CSOs to cover the whole network.
With CSOs in place, changes could

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