This year, the Utility Week Awards got a virtual makeover. After being shortlisted for five categories, we were delighted to lead the field for our Wirksworth incident response. And there was a special mention for our work with Greater Manchester to achieve a net zero future…
Wirksworth community response
During the virtual awards night, Cadent was awarded the Customer Experience award, recognising the lengths to which our engineers went to restore gas supplies quickly and safely to the small town of Wirksworth, in Derbyshire.
A water main burst in Wirksworth in October 2019, damaging a gas main which resulted in over 10,000 litres of water flooding the local gas network. 900 homes and businesses – including 215
priority service customers – lost their gas supply, which we immediately responded to by mobilising over 200 colleagues for several days to restore supplies as safely and quickly as possible.
Over 200 Cadent colleagues from South Yorkshire, the East Midlands, West Midlands and East Anglia were mobilised to quickly respond to this situation, ensuring both the complex repair and restoration work was completed within a week, and that staff were available around the clock to provide support to customers.
Wirksworth residents were so impressed with the level of service provided that they even invited our engineers to their annual carnival.
As Councillor Andy Jordan, Mayor of Wirksworth, remarked shortly after gas supplies were restored, “Cadent staff handled the situation with exemplary skill and politeness and completed the task remarkably fast, whilst ensuring every member of the community was kept well informed.”
Darren Elsom, Cadent's Director of Eastern Network, added, “Water in a gas network is particularly challenging. Engineers have to make sure every drop of water has been removed so we are very grateful for people’s patience.
“Our thanks go to everyone in Wirksworth for their patience and kind comments (not to mention the cakes and biscuits), to Derbyshire County Council for all their assistance, to Antony Gell School, Wirksworth Town Council and to Lockwood’s.”
A cleaner future for Greater Manchester: Decarbonisation Pathway report
Alongside the Wirksworth award, we received a special commendation for our
Decarbonisation Pathway for Greater Manchester, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between a gas and electricity network, in plotting a route to net zero for a region of the UK.
The Decarbonisation Pathway report was commissioned jointly by Cadent and our electricity counterpart, Electricity North West, to provide a pathway for local authorities, businesses and infrastructure providers in Greater Manchester to achieve the region’s stated aim of net zero by 2038.
Dr Angela Needle, Cadent Director of Strategy, said, “Working with Electricity North West and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, we established a credible, evidence-based roadmap to net zero. This is an example of how intense local collaboration is key to delivering a sustainable future.”