20 April 2020
Fast funds for communities during coronavirus
Eight utility networks have teamed up to give a £500,000 boost to local community foundations during the coronavirus pandemic.
UK Power Networks, SGN, Southern Water, Thames Water, Anglian Water, Affinity Water, SES Water and South East Water, are collaborating on a regional initiative looking out for their local communities as part of their ongoing work to help people living in vulnerable circumstances.
The firms that keep the lights on, taps running and gas flowing, employ thousands of key workers to maintain reliable supplies, who are working hard to ensure the country keeps going during these unprecedented times.
Working together, they are supporting local community foundations to make sure funding quickly gets to the frontline, where it can make the most impact in boosting community resilience, including local foodbanks, volunteer centres, food delivery services and outreach programmes for those at risk of isolation. The rapid funding will reach local charities supported by community foundations across Bedfordshire and Luton, Cambridgeshire, Surrey, Essex, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Wiltshire and Swindon, Dorset, southern Scotland, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Milton Keynes. Last year community foundations supported over 16,600 community organisations and charities.
Kerry Potter, consumer vulnerability manager, who chairs the Utility Networks Partnership, said: "In this difficult time for the communities we serve, this is one way we can provide practical help and support to make a real difference to the lives of the most vulnerable in our communities. We are proud to work with our regional partners in the industry to support the community foundations, through this fund we are ensuring individuals suffering hardship as a result of the coronavirus outbreak are helped."
Rosemary Macdonald, Interim CEO of UK Community Foundations, said: "This extraordinarily generous donation will enable community foundations to reach the people who most need assistance throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Each community foundation has an in-depth understanding of their local area, what the priority needs are and how best to address these issues, so they can ensure the funding goes where it is most needed and can make the most impact."
People who may need free extra support in the rare event of an electricity, gas or water outage can join confidential Priority Service Registers. Pensioners, parents with children under five, disabled people, hearing and sight-impaired residents, people with dementia, the chronically ill, those using medical equipment powered by electricity at home, can all benefit from free extra support by joining the registers. For details on how to join, check below.
:
- UK Power Networkswww.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/priority,0800 169 9970, psr@ukpowernetworks.co.uk
- Affinity Waterwww.affinitywater.co.uk/priorityservicesor by calling0345 357 2406
- Anglian Waterhttps://www.anglianwater.co.uk/priority-service 03457 919 155or use Anglian Water's MyApp
- Southern Waterhttps://www.southernwater.co.uk/account/extra-help-and-supportor emailcs_affordabilityteam@southernwater.co.uk
- Thames Waterwww.thames-psr.org,0800 316 9800,ecs@thameswater.co.uk
- South East Waterwww.southeastwater.co.uk/priority,0333 000 2468
- SES Waterwww.seswater.co.uk
Anyone facing difficulties with their utility costs at this time is urged to contact their energy and water companies, which can explain the financial vulnerability programmes they have in place to support their customers.
You can find your local community foundation through UK Community Foundations - https://www.ukcommunityfoundations.org/our-network
Ends
For further information please contact Southern Water's media team on 01903 272230.
Notes to editors: 1. UK Power Networks is the country's biggest electricity distributor, making sure the lights stay on for more than eight million homes and businesses across London, the South East and the East of England.
Network operators aren't the same as energy suppliers; network operators manage local power lines and substations, while energy suppliers sell the electricity that runs through the power lines.
UK Power Networks continues to be listed in the Sunday Times' Top 25 Best Big Companies to Work For, and made industry history by becoming first company to win Utility of the Year two years running (2015 and 2016, also 2012).
The company invests more than £600 million in its electricity networks every year, offers extra help to vulnerable customers at times of need, and is undertaking trials to ensure that electricity networks support the transition to a low carbon future. It also moves cables and connects new electricity supplies. If you have a power cut ring 105, see www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk or tweet us @UKPowerNetworks
Since our rebrand in 2014, we are no longer known as Scotland Gas Networks, Southern Gas Networks or Scotia Gas Networks. Please refer to us as gas distribution company SGN.
Whatever time of day or night, anyone who smells gas should dial the National Gas Emergency Number - 0800 111 999*. Lines are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and calls are free.
Find all our press releases and statements on our website - sgn.co.uk.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @SGNgas
*all calls are recorded and may be monitored
3. SES Water supplies water to approximately 707,000 people in east Surrey, and parts of West Sussex, west Kent and south London. Our supply area is 322 square miles (835 sq km) extending from Morden and South Croydon in the north to Gatwick Airport in the south and from Cobham, Leatherhead and Dorking in the west to Edenbridge and Bough Beech in the east. Groundwater supplies provide 85 per cent of our water, with 15 per cent being extracted from one reservoir at Bough Beech near Edenbridge.
For further information, including interview requests, please email communications@seswater.co.uk or call 01737 305804.
4. South East Wateris a socially and environmentally responsible company which provides top quality drinking water at a value-for-money price to 2.2 million customers across the south east of England. Every day the company supplies, on average, 520 million litres of drinking water to customers across parts of Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire. Contact us at southeastwater.co.uk or tweet us @sewateruk.
Water is our business. It's our job to handle it with care and balance the needs of our customers with those of the environment around us.
Our ethos is ‘Love Every Drop', because it's what we do. Every drop of water is precious, and we believe it's everyone's responsibility to look after it. We're constantly discovering new ways to keep ahead of a changing world, by planning for the future, and exploring new ideas to meet our customers' individual needs today and tomorrow.
6. Affinity We are committed to delivering a high-quality water service to all our customers. We provide 900 million litres of water each day to a population of more than 3.6 million people in parts of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Surrey, the London Boroughs of Harrow and Hillingdon and parts of the London Boroughs of Barnet, Brent, Ealing and Enfield. We also supply water to the Tendring peninsula in Essex and the Folkestone and Dover areas of Kent.
7. Thames Water is the UK's biggest water and wastewater services provider. Our key workers provide essential services around the clock to 15 million customers across London, the Thames Valley and surrounding areas.
For an average of just over £1 a day for our households, we provide 2.7 billion litres of drinking water and safely remove 4.4 billion litres of wastewater every day.
We invested more than £1 billion again in 2019/20, leading to a total of £15 billion in the past 15 years, and we will continue to spend wisely on improving resilience, service and efficiency, as well as provide more support for customers in vulnerable circumstances.
We also have additional responsibilities to society and the natural environment. What we do and how we do it delivers significant public value, which is why we have ambitious plans to self-generate more of our own power, reduce our carbon emissions and increase biodiversity across our sites.
8. Southern Water is one of the largest water and wastewater companies in the South East of England. It supplies 532 million litres of drinking water every day to more than two million customers and treats and recycles 717 million litres of wastewater for more than four million customers in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Water is essential to every aspect of our lives - for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Southern Water is proud to be at the heart of managing water and wastewater services. However, the South East's water supply faces big challenges. The population of the region is growing fast, and climate change will bring droughts and more extreme weather. It's a future of more people needing water and wastewater services, with less water to go around.
Southern Water's vision is to create a resilient water future for customers in the South East. Its purpose is to provide water for life to enhance health and wellbeing, protect and improve the environment and sustain the economy. That's why it is acting now for the challenges ahead. We are proud to work with charities in the communities we serve.
Find out more about Southern Water:www.southernwater.co.uk
