Rebecca Lumlock
SGN enters this new regulatory period with the momentum, the discipline and the determination to deliver on all our commitments.
This year marks a moment of genuine significance for SGN with the completion of our last five-year regulatory period and the start of the next.
During this time, SGN changed ownership and renewed its Executive team. The strategy and transformation led by Simon Kilonback has delivered strong results, giving confidence as we enter the next chapter of the business.
SGN exits the RIIO-GD2 five-year period in impressive shape. Our Scotland network has been number one for customer satisfaction for ten consecutive years – an astonishing achievement that reflects our relentless focus on our customers. Our southern network has also performed strongly, moving up to second place for customer service, a significant step forward and a further demonstration that our commitment to high performance is taking hold across the whole business.
Upgrading our network
Britain’s gas networks are entering the final stages of a 30-year programme to replace ageing metal infrastructure with modern plastic pipes. This is complex, demanding work and this year our teams outperformed, delivering the highest volume of mains replacement over the last five years. This multi-decade investment has delivered an important, high-quality piece of national infrastructure that will serve Britain for generations. I’m proud of what our teams and supply chain partners have achieved.
The business is now focused on delivering the significant investment set out in our RIIO-GD3 Final Determination. SGN enters this new regulatory period with the momentum, the discipline and the determination to deliver on all our commitments.
The Board has been closely engaged throughout this period, supporting the business through the RIIO-GD3 process. We have also undertaken a series of site visits that have reinforced my personal conviction about the quality of SGN’s people and operations.
Looking ahead to RIIO-GD3
I want to express my sincere gratitude to every one of our colleagues and supply chain partners. The results we are reporting reflect their professionalism, their resilience and their pride in the work they do – maintaining safe and reliable gas supplies for six million business and domestic customers across Scotland, south London and southern England, day in and day out.
As we enter RIIO-GD3, we do so with clear purpose. As the government has acknowledged, ‘the gas system will remain central to our energy system for generations to come’. It delivers a level of resilience and energy security that no other infrastructure can match at the scale and reliability many of our industrial and domestic customers depend upon. As such, the gas network is not only a critical national asset today, but a strategic pillar of the UK’s future energy system. Continued investment in this infrastructure is therefore vital, to sustain resilience and security, while preserving the flexibility and optionality required to support a balanced, orderly and cost-effective energy transition in the decades to come.
I look forward to working with Simon, the leadership team and colleagues across SGN as we build on this strong foundation and deliver for our customers, our communities and the country.
