Consumers in vulnerable circumstances advisory panel
Consumers in vulnerable circumstances advisory panel
The panel ensures we remain accountable, ambitious and responsive in our work. By educating us on emerging health conditions, affordability pressures and new vulnerabilities, it helps us stay alert to changing needs and ensures our services remain relevant and effective.
Role of the panel
We deliver electricity to homes and communities across some of the most socially and economically deprived areas of the UK, and the people who live there are at the heart of everything we do. Our focus is to make sure we have the right support and partnerships in place to reduce the impact of power cuts, help people struggling with fuel costs, and ensure no one in vulnerable circumstances is left behind as we move towards a net zero future.
The panel exists to make outcomes better for people who need extra support. It brings together people with lived experience, along with experts who work directly with individuals and communities every day. Their insight helps us stay connected to real challenges, real stories and the things that matter most to the people we serve. They offer honest guidance, challenge and oversight of our social programmes so that our work remains grounded, compassionate and effective.
The panel has two parts, a wider partnership group that shares community feedback and on‑the‑ground insight, and a smaller strategic group that looks closely at our business plan commitments and the progress we are making. Together, they help us stay focused on the current and future needs of our customers and communities. Both groups played a key role in shaping our Electricity Users in Vulnerable Circumstances Strategy and continue to support and monitor our progress as we deliver it.
The panel meets regularly throughout the year, with at least one opportunity to come together in person so we can build stronger relationships and share deeper insight. It’s led by independent chair, Jenny Willis, whose experience and impartiality help keep the panel focused. Each meeting brings together external panel members and senior leaders from SP ENW, ensuring a direct link into the business. Secretariat support is provided so that actions, insights and outcomes are captured and followed through.
Objectives
- To share expertise and lived experience to strengthen our understanding of vulnerability and ensure the right support reaches people across our licence area
- To advise on targeted assistance so SP ENW is in the best possible position to support customers during planned and unplanned power cuts
- To work with communities to build resilience and help individuals feel more prepared for unexpected power cuts
- To support practical action on fuel poverty across the North West by sharing insight, identifying gaps and helping shape effective interventions
- To enable two‑way communication on the transition to net zero to ensure it is inclusive and accessible. This includes topics such as low‑carbon technologies, energy efficiency and changes in everyday energy use
- To strengthen partnership working so that all relevant aspects of the ED2 business plan can be delivered effectively and with maximum benefit for customers in vulnerable circumstances.
Meet our panel chair, Jenny Willis
Jenny Willis has extensive experience working in research, participation and community and stakeholder engagement, particularly focusing on the needs of those who find themselves in vulnerable circumstances. She has worked in the energy sector since 2010 when she supported the development of new community energy co-operatives and has been working with SP ENW as an advisory panel chair since 2019 as well as sitting on the SPEN/SP ENW Independent Stakeholder Group.
After starting her career in the international development sector, she later transferred her networking, policy and communication skills to work with grassroots organisation Shaping Our Lives. Here she supported the involvement of long-term health and social care service users and disabled people in research and policy initiatives, facilitating and reporting on their views to incorporate their perspectives and experience at local and national policy level.
She has also worked to support stakeholder engagement for many local authorities and other organisations on issues such as flood risk communication, water management issues, management of nuclear waste, Local Nature Recovery Strategies, community energy and various policy issues related to farming. As a farmer herself based in Cumbria, she has a strong interest in the involvement of rural communities in decision-making on issues that affect them, including community resilience.
Since 2015 Jenny has been part of Shared Future’s core team working with communities across the UK on over 20 citizen juries and assemblies to support policy development in relation to mental health services, alcohol misuse, fracking, local energy, pension fund investments and LGBTQI+ people and policing, as well as many focusing on climate change and related issues such as air pollution and the effects of sea level rise.
Find out more
If you would like to find out more about the work of any of our advisory panels, please get in touch.