Gas Natural Fenosa - Corporate

Comercializadora Mayorista Ibérica (Iberian wholesale supply company) intends to consolidate its commercial leadership through an innovative culture and criteria for ongoing improvement that means customers can trust the relationship and the service, through definition of the so-called commercial DNA.

This project began in 2010, with a pre-analysis stage to identify areas for improvement and information to be contained by the commercial DNA from a conceptual standpoint (culture, values and styles) and operative point of view (commercial model). The pre-analysis result was used to define what steps to take to prepare the commercial DNA, the pillars of which are commercial leadership, developed by individuals and their good practices, and efficiency.

In order to set up the commercial DNA, based on a strategy with targets and specific tasks for each customer segment, equipment and unit, efforts have focused on ensuring proper management of change, through a specific communication and training plan targeted at the entire workforce, around 300 individuals, including management and middle managers.

The project was developed with a far-reaching and participatory focus, and employed a communication and training strategy, the general aims of which are to present and share the commercial DNA, inwardly digest the sales drivers from the point of view of efficiency, optimise relations with the sales team and develop skills in management of teams and day-to-day management.

To check progress in achieving the targets, the company has a monitoring plan to assess compliance with the undertakings and the degree to which commercial DNA has been put in place.

Advantages

• Establishing corporate identity for wholesale commercial personnel.
• Defining the values, attitudes, good practices and knowledge of the organisation.
• Defining the profile of the sales personnel and their capacity to maintain market leadership.
• Implementing a model that is flexible and able to connect with customers' expectations.

Project key points

• Management leadership.
• Participative approach.
• People and good practice-centred model.
• Specific communication and training for the entire personnel.
• The organisation's commitment to project goals.

Smart grids will radically change relations that electricity companies have with their customers. Electricity companies will have real-time knowledge of the consumption of all their customers, and will thus be able to adapt production and demand more accurately. Aware of this, Gas Natural Fenosa is making large investments to experiment with new technologies that will be compulsory in forthcoming years.
In 2011, Gas Natural Fenosa invested 50 million euros in smart grids and new investments are planned over the next few years. The majority of these investments are targeted at replacing traditional meters with smart meters, as well as implementing pilot projects in certain areas to research the performance of this equipment and associated infrastructures, so that we are ready when it comes to full implementation of these technologies.
Smart meters make it possible for distributors to speed up operations requested by customers as well as improve the quality of service, as they will provide quicker information on incidents, providing the customer with a more personalised treatment.
Smart networks will include information and communication technologies that will respond to customers’ needs and improve the efficiency of the electricity system. With this aim, they will integrate all actions of grid-connected users, both producers and consumers, making the electricity supply more efficient, safer and sustainable.
Among the smart grid research projects that Gas Natural Fenosa has in progress is the Energos project, which forms part of the Cenit Programme of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Moreover, to share experiences and best practices, the Gas Natural Fenosa Foundation organised an event featuring participation from numerous experts in different spheres to analyse the impact of smart grids in Spain.
 

In 2010, Gas Natural Fenosa launched a project to integrate the quality, environmental and health and safety systems, not only in Spain but at an international level.

By 2012, the project hopes to unify the numerous systems and certifications that the company has for different standards: ISO 9001 for quality assurance, ISO 14001 and EMAS for the environment, and OHSAS 18001 for health and safety. In this regard, the company has already made impressive progress, including the following:

• Establishment of a single and comprehensive policy, the Corporate Responsibility Policy.
• Compilation of a manual on quality, the environment and health and safety, with a global reach, approved by the CEO, which in the future will have supplements broken down by business/country.
• Set-up of eight general procedures that describe common aspects of the comprehensive management system, applicable in all countries.
• Preparation of general rules, such as management of the regulatory corpus and the purchasing standards, which articulate these processes throughout the company.
• Definition of common management tools.

With a view to supporting the dissemination and rollout of the project, those in charge of it held meetings at different levels of the organisation. There were also two communication sessions, one in the sphere of Europe and another in Latin America, specifically in Panama, where the managers from different areas of different countries were invited.
 

In June 2010, Gas Natural Fenosa presented Servielectric, a pioneering service in terms of coverage and level of performance. The service boasted 22,000 customers at the end of 2010.

Servielectric is a household assistance service that not only covers emergencies with faulty electrical installations, but also covers repairs to white electrical goods, electrical heaters and air-conditioning units and household heater pumps.

Servielectric covers five emergency situations, including:
 

• Faulty air-conditioning unit, faulty heaters or fridges.
• Insufficient performance of any of the electrical appliances mentioned.
• Faulty washing machine.
• Lack of hot water through faulty water heater or electrical heater.
• Lack of electricity in the home.

Gas Natural Fenosa offers its customers a priority household assistance service within three hours from fault notification, free of charge callout and coverage for the first three hours of labour.

Additional household services available include plumbing and computer repairs, etc. and there is no callout charge.

The launch of Servielectric is in line with the new gas and electricity integration strategy, associating energy with services of Gas Natural Fenosa.
 

Gas Natural Fenosa reached an agreement with the RACC Automóvil Club, the biggest automobile club in Spain, to encourage use of the electric car and reinforce natural gas as a fuel for vehicle fleets.

The agreement covers the design, development and promotion of joint services and offers within the sphere of the electric vehicle, including complementary products from both entities.

The agreement will therefore provide potential users of the electric car with offers in the supply of energy, finance and purchase of electric vehicles as well as the set-up of recharging infrastructures. The offer will also extend to assistance, insurance and maintenance services. Joint solutions will also be analysed for vehicle fleets that run on natural gas. The signed agreement also provides for the development, through the foundations of both enterprises, of joint actions to disseminate and provide training on alternative energies applied to transportation, with special focus on electrical mobility.

Within the framework of the agreement, Gas Natural Fenosa and RACC will collaborate on the Infotransit project, an online service targeted at providing the driver with real-time traffic information using electric car technology to power this information tool.

We should highlight the commitment that Gas Natural Fenosa has regarding the development of energy alternatives for transport. Among other initiatives, with regard to the electric vehicle, the company participates in the MOVELE project, managed and co-ordinated by IDAE (the Spanish Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving), which seeks to introduce, within two years, 2,000 electric vehicles in town centres and the set-up of 500 recharging points for these vehicles.
 

One of Gas Natural Fenosa's main priorities is to offer customers quality services that can meet their expectations.

Servigas is a service for the maintenance of natural gas installations and equipment, with over 1.4 million customers in Spain.

In May and June 2009, as part of the "Servigas Customer Satisfaction" project, a series of quality workshops were carried out for over 1,400 dispatchers and technicians who manage and perform the maintenance corresponding to this type of contract in customers' homes.

For that purpose, a preliminary study was carried out in which over 2,000 customers took part, with the aim of identifying which service attributes were considered to be most relevant.

In this context, 39 meetings were performed in which the main objective was to reinforce technicians' comprehension of the attitudinal factors that were a priority for customers. These workshops were also used to strengthen other aspects relating to safety and applicable laws.

The final result was that in the second half of 2009, customers' perception of Servigas had improved to satisfaction levels of over 90%.

As a result of the full deregulation in the low voltage sector (homes and SMEs), whereby users are allowed to choose the electrical commercialisation company, the Gas Natural Group and five state consumer associations agreed to draw up a code of good working practices for the commercial network guaranteeing respect for users' rights.

The code defines the behaviour that is to be expected of the sales network, and develops a flexible system for resolving claims.

The Gas Natural Group believes that this initiative generates confidence among consumers because it develops an innovative cooperation system with the consumer associations that represent them.

The Group also signed other agreements on a regional scale in different autonomous regions, all of which with the ultimate objective of improving the service given to customers.

In 2008, the Company performed an online survey to find out the level of satisfaction of its industrial customers. Mention must be made of the fact that 95% of participants declared their satisfaction with the quality and service provided by the Gas Natural Group. Furthermore, 93.9% are generally satisfied with the Company and 90.5% declare their satisfaction with the negotiation and contracting process. 95% of those taking the survey would recommend the Group to other companies in their sector.

97% of those that took the survey valued the Company's overall image in a positive way. The results of the survey with regard to information on the website and the operation of the virtual office were also highly positive.

Those taking the survey were encouraged to take part in an initiative that focused on solidarity: for each survey that was completed, a donation was made to the Spanish Confederation of Organisations for the Disabled. Approximately €4,500 were collected as a result.

In 2008, the Gas Natural Group extended its supply network in Spain to favour access to natural gas to a larger number of towns.

In Andalusia, where it now has a distribution network of 3,733 km and more than 339,000 customers, the Company continued its expansion with the installation of distribution networks in the towns of Espartinas and Palomares del Río in the province of Seville, thus increasing its supply network by 48 km and providing a service to 2,900 new families.

In Galicia, the gasification project was presented in the town of Cee, where the Company has installed a liquefied natural gas plant. It is part of the Energos II Plan of the regional government of Galicia and the Agreement for the third phase of the Gasification Plan of the Region of Galicia, with a planned investment of €19 million.

In Castilla-La Mancha, a region with more than 190,000 homes in 48 towns, the Company continued to expand its supply network in 2008 through the investment of €23 million in the installation of networks that are to provide a service to fourteen new towns.

The need for promoting continuous improvement arose from within the framework of the Gas Natural Group's Strategic Plan and with a view to improving efficiency and increasing customer satisfaction.

It is based on the creation of a quality system that enables the establishment of improvement targets, the detection of deviations from indicators and the in-depth knowledge of customers' requirements. Furthermore, there must be a structured method to enable the management of the improvement process.

Among the various methods available for quality management, the Gas Natural Group adopted "Seis Sigma" because it considered it to be complete and effective.

Seis Sigma is a method designed for managing and improving processes. It focuses the organisation on customer requirements, analytical rigour, alignment with processors and the improvement of efficiency.

The Seis Sigma improvement cycle comprises five phases focused on excellence in this field: define, measure, analyse, improve, control.

With the application of the Seis Sigma method, the Gas Natural Group seeks to develop a model that systematises the continuous improvement process in the Company's various lines of business. To achieve this, throughout 2007 projects were developed and applied to various processes that represented a reduction of 26% in the disappointed customers of Servigas and 19% in the Emergency Service.

The target for 2008 is to consolidate the programme in the various lines of business. Accordingly, the Company is training people to contribute to the deployment of the method in the Group.

GnSolar is one of the Gas Natural Group's main commitments to satisfying the current and future requirements of a constantly changing energy market. The combined solar system is the most efficient and environmentally-friendly solution for complying with the new Technical Building Code.

The Group offers three different modalities that adapt to the specific requirements of each customer and helps them obtain maximum profitability from their installations.

Through gnSolar, developers and constructors have a comprehensive collaboration and consultancy service for the execution and maintenance of the installations.

In addition, the Gas Natural Group drew up a technical guide for its collaborators so that the experience gained by the Company can be applied to the design and operation of the solar installations.

Gas Natural Soluciones also offers the possibility of the developer agreeing the execution of the turnkey solar installation with the Company so that all the phases required for obtaining a quality installation can be co-ordinated by the Gas Natural Group with the consequent convenience and service for the customer.

The Gas Natural Group and Repsol YPF, in partnership with Sonangol Gas Natural (SONAGAS), ENI, GALP and EXEM, signed a shareholders' agreement with the purpose of carrying out the first works for developing an integrated gas project in Angola.

The project consists of evaluating gas reserves, and subsequently, making the investments necessary for developing them, and, if applicable, exporting them in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

For the Company, this agreement is one more step forward in the development of the Angola integrated project, which got under way with the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Sonangol Gas Natural.

This project is also in keeping with the Gas Natural Group's new 2008-2012 Strategic Plan, whose objectives include reaching 15% of gas equity in the long term.

This agreement helps the Company in one of its objectives: to be present throughout the entire value chain of the business, to ensure a continuous supply and thereby offer the highest level of service..

During the first half of 2007, the Gas Natural Group started up the ¿Asigna¿ project. The project has the goal of improving the selection of suppliers, and affects the bid tendering and award processes. It also improves the selection of the workloads in the works awarded and pending allocation, by means of furnishing information, among others, on the suppliers' performance and capacity.

Over the course of the year, meetings were held with the parties involved and available data were analysed. The main difficulty in the project was identifying the impact on the current management model: persons, standards, processes and systems.

The first analysis of the project furnished positive conclusions regarding viability and benefits on awarding and allocation.

A simulation was made using real 2006 data to study its effects and impacts. The conclusion was that the new model offers a higher degree of transparency and lower distribution of work between suppliers, in accordance with their business and capacity parameters.

With a view to progressing towards excellent management of maximum quality, as part of its Strategic Quality Plan 2004- 2008, the Gas Natural Group defined the self-assessment process as a tool for continuous improvement in its lines of business and international subsidiaries in accordance with International Models of Excellence: EFQM and FUNDIBEQ.

These models of excellence provide a generic, unofficial framework that can be applied to any type of organisation or part of an organisation and they enable the structured and systematic analysis of all the management aspects of organisations and their results.

The methodology adopted by the Gas Natural Group comprises the following:

• An informative session for all the collaborators involved in the assessment.
• Gathering of information by means of questionnaires, which are completed by all the Group's collaborators, as well as interviews and focus groups involving the key individuals in the different areas being assessed.
• After the information has been gathered and processed, the self-assessment session is held with the presence of the entire management team of the area being assessed. The purpose of the session is to reveal strong points and areas for improvement, adopting the international models of excellence as references.
• Prioritisation of the projects for the improvement areas identified by the management team to be carried out in a term of no more than two years (term in which the self-assessment should be repeated).
• Informative session with all the collaborators of the self-assessment system, where the management team details the prioritised improvement projects and their commitment to carrying them out in the agreed term.

Since the start of the process, four self assessments have been carried out in various Gas Natural Group organisations (corporate department, line of business and international subsidiaries).

In addition, it is important to mention that to guarantee the success of the process, the full involvement of the management team of the area being assessed is necessary, as well as the contracting of a consultancy firm to collaborate on certain stages of the process so as to guarantee confidentiality in interviews and to share the self-assessment and prioritisation sessions.

Launch of an updated version of the Gas Natural Group's online channel, which incorporates improved browsing and access to contents, with an innovative, open presentation that puts emphasis on the Company's brand name values, comfort and commodity.

The Gas Natural Group's new website is much more complete with regard to contents and the cover it offers all it target publics: individuals, SMEs, gas distribution, large customers, installers and suppliers all have a respective area with information adapted to their requirements.

As a result and in accordance with the conclusions drawn from a recent qualitative study carried out on users of the online channel, the new design has been seen to be positively valued by domestic customers. In particular, customers appreciate the innovative design that enables more fluent browsing through the website contents at the same time as it reinforces the Company's brand image, which is transmitted via the other traditional media.

The Gas Natural Group has undertaken with its suppliers to establish and maintain long-term relations to improve the quality of the products and services it offers.

During the second half of 2006, the Gas Natural Group began a process to select suppliers in Italy through the preparation of a tender to provide a number of suppliers with the licence for constructing the pipelines necessary to transport natural gas. The areas subject to tender included the regions of Puglia, Sicily and southern Italy. Licences were to be awarded to between 20 and 30 suppliers.

The bases of the tender were sent to the suppliers with the information required for accessing the tender: classification requirements, calendar with the presentation meetings, as well as a series of explanations. The aim of the tender was to establish local suppliers for a period of between three and five years with a budget of €50 million per annum for the work. In addition, the suppliers sent the requested documentation and the Gas Natural Group classified them in accordance with the information provided. The only incident worthy of mention was the difficulty arising from the particularities of certain suppliers and their specialisation in the region of southern Italy.

The year 2004 saw the start-up of the Q-Model consolidation and expansion project, scheduled for completion in 2007-2008. The scope of implementation of this continuous and objective assessment model for the quality of suppliers' services and products is applied only in Spain.

During 2006, the rollout of the Q-Model continued in new areas with a significant impact on the end client. These improvements can be seen in processes such as the "Consumption Reading" and the "Corrective and Preventive Maintenance of Installations" service (Servigas).

The scope of application of the "Consumption Reading" service has been developed with nine suppliers working throughout the territory of Gas Natural Distribución SDG in Spain and with the "Preventive Maintenance" service (Servigas), which affects a group of 721 installation companies that collaborate with the Gas Natural Group on the provision of the said service. The volume of No-Quality Costs (NQC), which is to be managed from the Q-Model, totals €1,053,852.

The implementation of this methodology has involved the collaboration of a team of five people from an external firm of consultants.

Finally, the results have been the objective determination of the NQC resulting from the non-optimum execution of the services under contract. In addition, the use of the model has been consolidated in the services in which it was implanted in previous years.

The Gas Natural Group¿s commitments to its customers take shape through the development of tools such as continuous satisfaction measurement.

Through these effective measuring tools, the Gas Natural Group is able to implement the services most in keeping with the customers¿ requirements.

Continuous measurement enables the Company to analyse and control changes in processes, anticipate potential modifications in users¿ requirements and set efficient perceived quality targets, as well as improving quality in business divisions and establishing two-way communication with the end user.

In 2005, in Spain alone, 83,525 telephone surveys were performed, which means that 1 out of each 61 Group customers was interviewed during the year. These surveys make it possible to measure the degree of satisfaction in processes with the highest impact on the global perception of the service.

The Gas Natural Group has become a touchstone in customer satisfaction measurement matters. The Group takes part in working groups of the AEC or Spanish Quality Association (made up of quality supervisors of companies from different sectors) and the ¿Club Excelencia en Gestión¿, where the project has been presented as an example of a good working practice.

In 2005, the Gas Natural Group presented the Customer Service Guarantee Office (OGSC). Its purpose is to offer consumers¿ representatives a dynamic, effective and customised channel for claims management.

The OGSC has the authority to intervene on behalf of all Gas Natural Group¿s distribution and commercialisation companies in Spain. By this means, consumer¿s associations and public administrations dealing with consumption have a specific agent who informs them of all the new developments and sales processes relating to customers, and who handles all claims.

With a view to meeting these objectives, the OGSC has established three areas for action:

• Relations with customer¿s representatives to establish bonds of trust and co-operation via the fluid exchange of information.
• Resolving the claims of the consumer¿s associations, municipal consumer offices and public administrations in all matters relating to consumption. The OGSC is designed to be able to mediate in the event that customers are not satisfied with the solution offered for their claims.

Improving of processes to assure the quality commitments and criteria of the Gas Natural Group.

By year end, 306 associations had contacted the Guarantee Office. 93% of claims were resolved within the stipulated term.

With a view to improving the quality of its offer in Spain, the Gas Natural Group uses the Servigas and Servielectric services, guaranteeing comprehensive assistance in gas and electricity supply.

The function of both services is prevention. In other words, they are designed to anticipate any problem that customers may have. They are also involved in boosting the performance of their gas and electricity installations, while at the same time promoting energy saving. The ultimate aim is for customers to feel comfortable, confident and safe with their electrical and gas fixtures.

Servigas and Servielectric offer customers the following benefits:

• 24-hour home assistance: Customers are provided with a 24-hour telephone assistance service, 365 days a year, offering technical assistance for any incident arising in the electrical installation, in air conditioning equipment or in natural gas installations.
• Guaranteed assistance within three hours.
• Annual preventive inspection: Once a year, Gas Natural Group technicians perform a general maintenance inspection of the installations.
• Technical and sales assessment concerning renewals and changes relating to electrical or natural gas equipment.

The Gas Natural Group is committed to offering the best services to its customers, even though customers¿ requirements vary in accordance with the socio-economic reality of the different countries in which the Group carries out its activities. The Group therefore has to adapt its services to these realities.

In Colombia, the Gas Natural Group has developed a customer loyalty and benefits programme, offering a broad range of activities to satisfy the needs of the Company¿s different customers:

• ¿Gas Natural gives you a hand¿: This is a programme through which Gas Natural ESP seeks to help persons whose service was cancelled owing to non-payments to the Company, by financing the debt and re-establishing the service if the customer so wishes. Through this campaign, the Company managed to involve 6,759 customers and manage a total of €644,935.34, so recovering 30.93% of customers and 17.43% of debts.
• Clan GNV (Gas Natural Vehicle): This is a benefits system developed by Gas Natural ESP for taxi-drivers choosing natural gas as a raw material, by which they are offered benefits, activities and discounts for the vehicle, owners, the drivers and their families. The 2005 campaign secured the registration of 1,561 customers and 62 strategic partner networks.
• ¿Gas for Everyone¿: Company financing plan facilitating acquisition of the service for potential customers of Gas Natural ESP, and enabling existing customers to acquire additional gas appliances, paying the value of the financing through the bill. 70% of the company¿s new customers registered for this service.
• Insurance programme: This is designed for persons who do not have easy access to insurance contracts, offering them a personal accident, life, home and market insurance policy.
• Funeral Protection programme: Programme with over 24,000 members providing a complete service in the event of death; including legal medicine, funeral, car, coffin, mass, transport of persons attending the funeral and wake, and exhumation expenses.
• Specialised Legal Aid programme: Programme providing legal aid for a reduced monthly fee, including all queries required and up to two simultaneous queries.
• Conferences to Industrial Customers: Conferences on safety and energy saving and optimisation for engineers, equipment and maintenance operators of companies that are clients of Gas Natural ESP.

The international implementation of the Purchasing Model is another example of the Gas Natural Group¿s commitment to establishing objective supplier selection mechanisms.

The Purchasing Model, which is currently operational in Spain, is now in the process of being extended to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Italy and Morocco, through the standardisation and upgrading of the processes, organisation and system for information and reporting on purchasing.

In this respect, the goal is to improve the Group¿s Purchasing operations and raise the quality of service, while maintaining costs and performance at competitive levels.

The new Purchasing Model enhances communication with suppliers by including functionalities such as:

• Electronic platforms for negotiation via auctions and requests for bids. The aim of these platforms is to make negotiation processes more streamline and transparent, which in turn affords the Company greater savings.
• Direct access to data through the Supplier Website. This Website establishes communication with suppliers through the following functionalities:
  • Access to the Q-Model assessment system.
  • Monitoring of contracts and invoices.
  • General Group information.

Various units of the Gas Natural Group, including different departments and countries, were instrumental in developing the new Purchasing Model, and were thus able to take into account the legal and tax regulations in force in the areas where the international subsidiaries operate.