9.1 Reliable and secure access to energy

As a gas distributor in the Autonomous Community of Madrid (CAM) since 2010, year after year we have invested in the construction of new networks, thereby increasing the number of municipalities and districts with access to natural gas. In the same vein, we continue to advance in our commitment to the process of transforming the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to natural gas, thanks to the expansion of our network.

Our infrastructure investment in 2023 was 13.3 million euros, down slightly from 17.6 million euros in 2022. The company maintains the level of investment in its own networks and other projects.

In network expansion, investment amounted to 9.5 million euros, of which 6.5 million euros were earmarked for the expansion of the natural gas distribution network and 3 million euros for the LPG to natural gas conversion plan.

Outside of expansion investment, the figures remain at a comparable level to the previous year (3.8 million in 2023 compared to 3.6 in 2022) and are oriented especially towards network maintenance and, therefore, security and reliability of supply, together with fraud prevention, digitalisation and the development of information systems, with the aim of achieving cost efficiency and improving the quality of customer service.

Looking at our commitment to increasing the natural gas network and phasing out LPG plants, the evolution is clear.

During 2023 we have made very significant progress in bringing natural gas to new municipalities

The graph shows our gradual efforts in the transformation process towards natural gas since the phasing out and dismantling of the satellite LPG plants.

Our aim is to improve the quality of life of citizens and the possibilities for economic growth in the areas of impact of the CAM, providing industry and commerce with access to a highly efficient fuel, through a continuous and reliable supply. This will be compatible with their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint as it is a cleaner gas, which in a simple way opens the door to the future entry of renewable gases, as we have already explained in chapter 5 of this report.

During 2023 we have made very significant progress in bringing natural gas to new municipalities.

As a result of this effort, in the first half of 2024 we will start to supply the municipalities of Casarrubuelos and Miraflores de la Sierra. We are also in the final phase of the procedures for the installation of our infrastructures in the municipalities of:¡ Los Molinos and Moralzarzal (we hope to obtain them in 2024) and we have authorisations from other municipalities in the Community of Madrid, including El Boalo, Collado Mediano, Becerril de la Sierra and Navacerrada, at different stages of processing.

This year we have held meetings with the town councils of Casarrubuelos, Moralzarzal and El Boalo. In these presentation meetings, we explain our way of working, how we will approach the works, how we will reach customers, the commercial activity that will be carried out and, of course, how we will facilitate access of their residents to the new supply, giving them information about the technical/economic offers that we will make to them. We will also explain the advantages of a new energy alternative from which they can benefit.

In 2023, in the municipality of Casarrubuelos we started the commercial surveys that will allow the best programming in deployment of the natural gas network in the town. Residents have expressed great interest in having this supply, and we have also made progress in working with the municipal authorities to ensure the necessary coordination to minimise any inconvenience to them.

Impact on the economic development of municipalities: boosting industry and commerce

If we focus on the positive impact on economic development in our area of influence, an interesting example in the year 2023 can be found in the pharmaceutical industry. The versatility of natural gas makes it an ideal energy source for all stages of the production process, especially temperature control, drying and sterilisation, while at the same time supporting efforts to minimise the carbon footprint by maintaining efficiency in these processes. This year, a pharmaceutical company that uses our service started up new warehouses in Tres Cantos, in the region of Madrid, to expand the production of orals and injectables, for which it incorporated two new steam boilers, as part of its objective to double the production of generic medicines.

Another interesting example is a bakery in Alcalá de Henares, a company founded in 1955, which in June 2017 suffered a major fire affecting one of its main production halls. Despite this tragedy, since then they have been reclaiming the land of the burnt warehouse, implementing more modern processes and using the latest technology. They currently produce 250,000 loaves of bread every day, which are distributed throughout Spain. To achieve this production, they have incorporated new natural gas furnaces, which have a high regulation capacity and allow for a rapid rise in temperature.

Natural gas also remains key in catering and small trades such as self-service laundries and hairdressers, where a continuous and uninterrupted supply is key to their business. This year there have been 240 new registrations of commercial premises.

In the social sphere, the Agencia Madrileña de Atención Social is gradually incorporating this energy into its centres for the elderly. Thus, in 2023 it remodelled and fitted natural gas for all its uses (heating, hot water, kitchens and laundry) to the so-called Gran Residencia located in the district of Carabanchel.

9.2 Reliability and continuity of supply

In order to adequately meet the needs of users, it is vital to ensure that this access to energy is secure and the supply is reliable, without any interruption.

To this end, we have an annual maintenance plan, which complies with the general regulations in force and MRG’s internal standard, together with a demanding network renewal plan.

We would also like to highlight our process of updating the network mapping, a key element for the efficiency of our maintenance processes, and especially for safety in the event of emergencies, as well as to avoid accidents. This year, we have worked on updating the mapping of seven municipalities and added two more: Collado Mediano and Casarrubuelos.

We also highlight our efforts to modernise communications with the Control Centre. We have removed all the old Datalogger devices we had installed, replacing them with modern Remote Terminal Units (RTU) with continuous communication, thus improving the operability of the system.

We have also eliminated all switched telephone network (PSTN) lines, and our remotes now communicate via 3G or 4G modem, or via ADSL.

We have also improved the communication of the surveillance cameras installed. Currently, the cards installed communicate via 4G and are located in a VPN so that communication and image speed have been improved.

During 2023, all preventive maintenance of the planned ERM communication systems has been carried out correctly and, in addition, mobility has been implemented for remote management orders for both preventive and corrective maintenance.

The ERM Physical Balance page has been improved to provide a better overview of the balances in the ERM consumption areas.

Finally, it should be recalled that our approach to emergencies in 2023 is described in Chapter 5, specifically as regards developing our management to address asset integrity and critical incident management.

9.3 Customer and end-user focus

After five years of initiatives aimed at improving the customer experience, and despite the situations suffered in recent years such as Covid or the war in Ukraine, and its significant impact on the energy sector, we continue to grow in customer service.

Thanks to all the improvements implemented in all our processes and operations with a focus on customer experience, and the quality of all our customer service channels, we maintain the best Google My Business rating in the sector.

We are proud to have achieved an average customer satisfaction score of 9 on our WhatsApp channel, as well as an overall score of 8.3 across the company, thanks to the high level of service in all our channels and operations, and especially with the changes in the periodic inspection service and the improvements in communication from our WhatsApp channel.

Since the beginning of the campaign, the volume of inspections carried out has been above the established target, ending the year with a 98% success
rate (160,028 inspections)

We remain unbeatable on Google My Business, with more than 11,000 reviews and an average rating of 4.0. This was achieved in the face of an unprecedented increase in the volume of contacts from our customers, mainly due to billing and reading issues in the face of high gas prices in the winter of 2023.

Thanks to all the improvements implemented in all our processes and operations with a focus on customer experience, and the quality of all our customer service channels, we maintain the best Google My Business rating in the sector.

This year we have updated our Consumer Care Code and published it on our website: https://madrilena.es/quienes-somos/.

This Code enables users to know and understand the services we provide, our responsibilities and commitments, and details when and how to contact us through the various channels. Moreover, we continuously update content on our website, with practical tips, videos and answers to frequently asked questions to help consumers in their relationship with us, to manage and communicate their needs, as well as to optimise their energy consumption.

The analysis of our user/consumer actions and services during 2023 showed good results.

Whether at the end of a call centre call, a WhatsApp conversation, a Virtual Office (OV) procedure, or after any of our procedures have been carried out in the field, Madrileña Red de Gas carries out a satisfaction survey to evaluate the mechanisms and resolution measures.

Every 15 days, these assessments are followed up as a formula for continuous improvement. Among other analyses, we obtain the CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score or the score that measures customer satisfaction with the process).

For 2023, these are the ratings obtained (ranging from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest))

• CSAT Call centre: 7.8
• CSAT WhatsApp: 8.6
• CSAT OV: 7.4
• CSAT Periodic Inspection process: 8.4
• CSAT process Home Operations: 6.9
• CSAT process Meter readings: 8.1

Periodic Inspection

In 2023, we have continued to build on our achievements in 2022 regarding Periodic Inspections, again meeting our targets, and our processes have been optimised to improve on this trend.

Since the beginning of the campaign, the volume of inspections carried out has been above the established target, ending the year with a 98% success
rate (160,028 inspections).

In addition, during 2023 we have decided to include the metered volume for installations that had pending meter revision in the Periodic Inspection process and thus detect and remedy anomalous meter situations. We have achieved an 85% success rate in the metered volumes, detecting and remedying 1.06% of incidents.

Some of the details that enabled us to achieve success in the campaign were:

• Communication with our customers through the different channels provided, adapting the interaction in the different channels to the needs expressed by customers in the complaints and suggestions process
• During inspections, when there are defects, our technicians explain the problem and the steps to be taken by the consumer to remedy them in detail
• We send reminders of deadlines to send us the Justifications of Correction of Anomalies (JCA).
• This year we have closed almost all complaints for periodic inspections within the established deadline, achieving 99.53% of closures within one day.

These efforts are enabling us to achieve very good results:

• We have increased the number of Anomaly Correction Justifications received before issuing the cut-off notice (94%, compared to 68.68% in 2021 or 81.89% in 2022)
• Our field quality rating is 99%
• The score given to us by our customers in the surveys carried out was 8.4 for the service throughout the year

Readings

The key to improving reading processes has been early communication with customers and, above all, the channels and options through which customers can provide us with information.

Using various channels, such as emails, WhatsApp and our own website, we notify and provide instructions and educational videos so that consumers understand the importance of meter readings and how they can provide us with that information.

In addition, we take the opportunity to raise customer awareness of the need to take a real reading at least once a year and of the convenience of billing real readings whenever possible.

Specifically, in the customer-facilitated reading process, the channels chosen are:

• Virtual Office (VO): 80.16%
• WhatsApp (WS): 15.51%
• Telephone through IVR (voice-over): 3.94%
• Calls to call-centre agents: 0.24%

We have reduced the percentage of customers with no real reading in one year from 3.25% of distributed customers to 2.26%, thereby also reducing customer complaints related to readings and the company’s loss balance.

In a gas environment with price risk and greater attention paid by end customers to their consumption and natural gas bills, Madrileña Red de Gas has managed to reduce the number of complaints that customers send us through different channels.

As can be seen, in the winter of 2023 we received a high number of complaints about readings as a result of consumers’ misgivings about high bills due to the high price of gas at that time. However, prompt attention and resolution, including when a review of the meters was necessary, allowed service satisfaction levels to continue to grow.

Working together in the organisation to “provoke” less hesitation from the end customer in all processes has led to improved results as regards meter-reading. Some notable changes in the process include:

• Easy correction of estimated readings when changing supplier
• Activation of changes of supplier with a deadline for the customer to facilitate their reading.
• More information on the chronology of the readings and also on the result of the reading that will be invoiced by the supplier.

One positive initiative in this regard is the installation of remote metering for a large number of customers who are not legally obliged to do so. This proposal allows a better control of consumption, and therefore has a direct effect for us on the shrinkage balance ratio and direct benefits for the consumer by allowing them to opt for the capacity-based billing method (Art. 26 point 4 of Circular 6/2020 of 22 July of the National Commission for Markets and Competition) with advantages, such as:

• Hourly consumption register, adjustment of their consumption
• Economic benefits due to tolls applied on the basis of the billing method

Household operations

We have experienced one of the best years in terms of success rates, which were 96% for reconnections and 93% for terminations at the customer’s request.

These values are the result of excellent data-collection work in the field, increasing the percentage of appointments made and the exhaustive weekly monitoring of our partner companies.

We also highlight the processing of complaints, where we have never fallen below 98% processed in one day.

In the field, we have had a quality-control rate of around 99% throughout the year, with no alarming cases detected.

We would also like to highlight that in IRC (Common Receiving Installations) Maintenance, we have not delayed any commissioning for more than 48 hours this year.

In conclusion, we can proudly state that, thanks to all the initiatives and improvements carried out, our customers are more satisfied every day as we obtained a score of 6.9 in the surveys compared to 6.4 in 2022.

Complaints and claims management

Within the framework of our efforts to provide the best and most agile customer service possible, a fundamental way to improve our services is to deal with claims, complaints and whistleblowing in an effective manner. Madrileña Red de Gas has defined a process that we have included in our general procedure, which we will review in 2021((año incorrecto?)) to adapt it to the options provided by new technologies.

In addition, our Consumer Care Code (updated in 2023) allows users to find the channels to contact us and how to use them.

Our Centre of Excellence Dept. is responsible for ensuring that the customer service process is managed correctly at a transversal level throughout the Company, although each Business Unit (including the Corporate Divisions of Expansion, Systems and Domestic Operations, Emergencies, Network Operations and Finance) is responsible for dealing with any type of request that cannot be handled either by the call centre or automatically through any of the other active customer-service channels.

The Centre of Excellence Dept. is also in charge of processing files from Official Bodies regarding claims, complaints and irregularity reports, centralising both the collection of information and proposing solutions for each case.

In the case of possible environmental impacts rather than service demands, the Centre of Excellence refers them to the units responsible for their resolution based on their type, in accordance with our Communication procedure.

The incoming channels for complaints are varied, ranging from our telephone service (Call Centre), registration through IOGas for those managed by the commercialisation companies, our generic mailbox for customer service, the Virtual Office (via the website), the WhatsApp channel and written letters (both official and from the customer), all of which are registered in SAP.

The channel that has tended to be used most often by customers is the telephone channel via the Call Centre, where the customer is served using different IVR (Interactive Voice Response) options. Most of these requests can be resolved immediately thanks to the automation of responses using decision trees.

However, the WhatsApp channel has gained in importance during 2023 given that Madrileña Red de Gas considers that this channel can reach more types of users, both digital and those who are less experienced in that area, achieving an average weight in communications of 46% vs Call Centre + WhatsApp in the last quarter of 2023.

As with the Call Centre, the WhatsApp channel also includes a decision tree that allows the user to manage their request in a simple way, and to automate that request in a high percentage of cases, such as being able to facilitate the meter reading by providing a photograph or to modify an appointment for an already scheduled Periodic Inspection (average for last quarter of 2023: 64% of all conversations).

In our Virtual Office, we have clearly improved the handling of complaints through the introduction of simplified menus, which allow the user to navigate through the complaints section in a simple way, depending on the request they want to process.

During 2023, we continued to work on “Customer Journeys”, which allow a detailed analysis of those complaints that may present greater difficulty. With this procedure we aim to achieve a review of our processes, minimise negative impacts on service and increase customer satisfaction, establishing action plans for them with the different Business Units, and carrying out subsequent monitoring to check that the actions implemented have managed to reduce the possible incidents detected in the processes.

We also have a customer communications system in place, which aims to maintain continuous communication and provide a comprehensive service to customers.

The different engagements we have in place for the different gas-distribution processes are (data 2023):

• Communications throughout the Periodic Inspection process: 1,217,517
• Communications throughout the meter reading process: 3,825,148
• Communications related to requests made by customers through the Call Centre, Virtual Office and Sales Companies, their follow-up and resolution: 389,036
• Communications associated with requests processed by suppliers on behalf of customers, such as supply registrations, contract cancellations, changes of supplier and ownership, etc.: 164,827
• Other communications where customers need more information about the process that is related to us: 1,011,988

Our Centre of Excellence carries out a daily control of the requests (complaints, requests for action and requests for information) that have been registered in the system in order to control the closure thereof. We compile the monitoring KPIs for both the service provided in the call centre and WhatsApp on a monthly and quarterly basis, and when a need is identified, we prepare and submit ad hoc reports on relevant complaints, which allows us to redirect service errors and improve our processes on a continuous basis.

The Madrileña Red de Gas website has a section on commitment with our customers, where we present the complaint indicators and the commitment actions to resolve the most frequent reasons for them. A selection of the top 5 complaints by volume and typology from the last quarter is always shown, along with the reasons for the complaints and the solution we offer or the stage of the analysis process they are in.

9.4 Fostering positive impact and social action

Beyond the impact that our facilities have on the socio-economic development of the Autonomous Community of Madrid as a result of the arrival of gas, it seems relevant to recall in this chapter the distributed economic value that we have reflected in section 6.1. of the report. In 2023 we have generated 45,075 (thousands of euros) of distributed economic value, of which 20,929 (thousands of euros) have been payments to suppliers, 66% of which are local.

Seeking this generation of value, and in line with our social commitment, since 2019 we have been working with the FUNDACIÓN CEE PRODIS. This Foundation works to support and promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. It mainly carries out invoice printing, notification of periodic inspections and recoveries for us. This enables these people to have paid work, facilitating their social inclusion. In 2023 we have contracted services worth €15,414.

With the same objective, we contracted ILUNIÓN LIMPIEZA Y MEDIO AMBIENTE, a company belonging to the ONCE Group, whose aim is to facilitate the workplace integration of people belonging to vulnerable groups, for the cleaning services we require. This year we have contracted services worth €44,326.

We also continue to collaborate financially with the Fundación Española de la Energía, a non-profit foundation belonging to the public sector that contributes to the development of regional energy policy in the European framework.

Finally, we would like to point out that in our Sustainability Master Plan 2023–2026 we have defined lines of work and actions focused on improving our capacity for positive social impact, the fruit of which we will be able to see in future reports:

• Increase dialogue with, and participation of, the populations affected by our actions.
• Establish a social action strategy aligned with our interests and activity, through a rapprochement and collaboration with NGOs and social/environmental organisations, promoting corporate volunteering.