Our Responsibilities
Wales & West Utilities - Corporate Responsibility
The gas industry regulator Ofgem sets the amount of money we are allowed to receive from customers in return for delivering a range of defined outputs that represent good value for money.
These outputs are there to make sure that gas distribution networks like ours:
- maintain a safe and reliable network
- make a positive contribution to sustainability and protect the environment
- provide connections to supply new customers and support the connection of new gas entry points into the network
- meet our social obligations
- provide an agreed standard of service to consumers and other stakeholders.
Outputs were developed following extensive consultation with a range of stakeholders around the outcomes they valued and the levels of service they wanted. These were agreed as part of the business planning process. We publically report our performance against them at each year end.
Sustainable Energy and Value for Money
Homes, businesses and industry need sustainable energy sources that offer security as well as value for money. Here at Wales & West Utilities we see this as an opportunity to build on our impressive record, further improve our performance, and show how gas can continue to play a key role in a balanced energy portfolio for many years to come - to the benefit of all our stakeholders. It's up to us as energy networks to constantly innovate and demonstrate that we are delivering good value for customers' money, while continually improving transparency around the real cost of different energy sources as the UK seeks a clear energy strategy.
Environment & Renewable Energy
Our network runs through some of the most spectacular and beautiful landscapes in Britain. We are committed to the protection and enhancement of the environment, always seeking new ways to minimise the environmental impacts of our past, present and future activities. We firmly believe that everyone working for or on behalf of our company is responsible for good environmental performance. To demonstrate this commitment, we consider the environment in everything we do, and we're certified to BS EN ISO 14001, an internationally accepted standard for good environmental management.
Environmental Performance
Below is a big list. It's a list of key principles. These provide the framework we use to set goals for improving our environmental performance, and for delivering and maintaining a culture that achieves those goals.
- We expect our board and management team to lead the way in promoting good environmental performance, and to commit the appropriate resources to achieve our environmental goals;
- We will always meet, and where appropriate, exceed the requirements of legislation, policies and our other commitments where the environment is involved;
- Preventing pollution is one of our highest priorities, but if an incident does occur, we will respond to minimise impact on human health and the environment;
- We minimise, reuse or recycle waste whenever budgets allow, and we make sure that any waste we do generate is managed properly and safely;
- We work to protect the environment for future generations by helping to minimise the emissions that lead to climate change;
- We manage the risk from sites that have been contaminated by gas manufacturing in the past and improve these sites where we can by active site management;
- We require our contractors to demonstrate the same level of commitment and performance as we do in the management of the environment;
- We encourage all our people to embrace the culture of environmental good practice in everything they do.
- We make sure that everyone at Wales & West Utilities has the skills, knowledge, and resources they need to contribute to our environmental commitments;
- We encourage open and constructive dialogue with colleagues, members of the public and other stakeholders to continually challenge our performance and provide feedback that we can use to make our good work even better.
- We actively identify the environmental risks of the work we do, and set environmental goals and targets. These are shared with everyone employed by or working on behalf of us;
- We monitor and review our environmental performance, check how well our management systems are working and report our performance to employees, contractors, the public and other stakeholders.
- We work closely with our Western Gas Alliance partners to reduce environmental impacts by cooperation, coordination, and sharing the benefits of best practice techniques, procurement, and efficient working methods.
We publish our results.
