Utility of the Year
Celebrating utilities whose culture and performance make them all-round industry exemplars. This award recognises companies going above and beyond regulatory requirements to set and meet ambitious targets on delivering for customers, promoting diversity and enhancing the reputation of the wider sector.
Utility of the Year
Celebrating utilities whose culture and performance make them all-round industry exemplars. This award recognises companies going above and beyond regulatory requirements to set and meet ambitious targets on delivering for customers, promoting diversity and enhancing the reputation of the wider sector.
Brook Green Supply
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Brook Green Supply has delivered another year of strong growth, innovation and customer success. Energy volumes increased by 23%, customer renewals reached 91% and customer NPS rose to +54, while Elexon ranked the business among the UK’s top-performing suppliers for settlement performance. The launch of Optimus, our proprietary energy intelligence platform, is helping customers turn complex data into actionable insight, while our award-winning flexibility work demonstrates how businesses can actively participate in the energy system. By combining supply, technology, trading expertise, flexibility and decarbonisation, Brook Green Supply is building a more intelligent energy business.
E.ON Next
The past year has seen E.ON Next delivering on its ‘playmaker’ mission: creating blueprints for other energy companies to follow, shaping national policies, and innovating to leave no one behind in the energy transition. It’s been a year characterised by a rapid succession of scalable innovations/collaborations (many of which appeared in policy-informing whitepapers) which have brought renewable-energy generation, battery storage, and time-of-use tariffs to previously-excluded sections of society. Alongside a comprehensive vulnerable-customer strategy and sector-leading debt reduction, E.ON Next topped the 2026 Citizens Advice Bureau rankings for service among large suppliers, making this a truly landmark year for the company.
National Grid Electricity Distribution
National Grid Electricity Distribution and National Grid DSO are demonstrating what an all-round industry exemplar looks like: a fuel poverty programme delivering £29 million in customer savings, an AI chatbot and the sector's most complete heatwave response; a South West team that restored power to over 140,000 customers after Storm Goretti with zero recordable safety incidents; a flexibility market that scaled ten-fold to become the first in Britain to procure demand specifically to prevent renewable curtailment; and a £2.7 million shareholder-funded solar programme unlocking a further £10 million for schools in disadvantaged communities. Culture and performance, together, define our year.
Northern Gas Networks
At Northern Gas Networks, every decision starts with the people we serve. From keeping families safe and warm, to supporting communities through the cost-of-living crisis and helping shape the energy system of the future, NGN has spent the past year delivering far beyond regulatory expectations. Alongside £90.6 million of Totex outperformance and customer satisfaction of 9.32/10, NGN listened to more than 159,000 stakeholder voices and turned insight into action. The result is a utility that combines performance with purpose, innovation with accountability, and a relentless commitment to creating lasting value for customers, communities and future generations.
Northumbrian Water
At a time when the utility sector faces unprecedented scrutiny, NWG has demonstrated what responsible leadership looks like. We ranked first for customer experience for the second consecutive year, were recognised as the most trusted water and sewerage company, supported more than 160,000 customers, achieved world-first service, inclusion and innovation accreditations, and delivered measurable environmental progress. By combining strong governance and financial resilience with innovation, inclusion and public service, we have continued to deliver for customers, communities and the environment. Our progress demonstrates leadership through challenge, not despite it.
Octopus Energy
Octopus Energy has transformed the energy sector, accelerating an affordable consumer-empowered net zero future. Leveraging in-house incubated Kraken Technology we’ve achieved market leadership (25%+ share), $9bn private valuation and £13bn+ turnover, whilst creating and protecting thousands of green jobs a year for people across all demographics. Our human-first approach, combined with unrivalled customer satisfaction (9x Which? Recommended Provider), employee engagement (4x Top 10 Sunday Times ‘Best Places to Work’), and record-breaking decarbonisation (including the world’s largest 3.5 GW Virtual Power Plant), demonstrates that putting people and planet before profit is a blueprint for sustainable high-growth and inclusive business success.
Southern Water
Southern Water has moved from the turnaround phase into the first year of delivering its largest investment programme, making progress across areas that matter most to customers and the environment. We are strengthening trust through accountability, transparency and supporting better outcomes for communities. In 2025–26, we reduced average water-supply interruptions to five minutes, cut external sewer flooding and reduced leakage for a third consecutive year. We supported over 193,000 customers through discounted payment schemes and grew our Priority Services Register to 359,733 customers. We invested over £1.1 billion in our assets and strengthened financial resilience through new shareholder equity.
UK Power Networks
UK Power Networks stands out as a utility with purpose, performance and people at its heart. Its teams deliver outstanding customer service and practical innovation at scale, accelerating the transition to net zero. From supporting vulnerable customers and pioneering low-carbon flexibility to investing in smarter, more resilient networks, it's raising sector standards while remaining the country’s lowest-cost network operator. All-round achievements reflect a culture where 6,500 employees are united by public service, ambition and pride in powering 8.5million homes and businesses safely, reliably and sustainably every day. This is an exemplary utility where 24,000 people are queuing up to work.
Utilita Energy
UK energy retail is an unforgiving market, defined by tight margins, high churn, inherent volatility, limited access to cheap capital and soaring customer debt. Supplier exits and accelerating consolidation underline the scale of the challenge. Yet Utilita continues to stand apart. Over the past year, it has delivered industry-leading smart meter performance, driven decarbonisation through practical behaviour change campaigns, supported more than 100,000 people through its high-street Energy Hubs, tackled energy debt, and protected vulnerable prepay customers with first-of-its-kind resilience technology. Utilita is improving lives, strengthening trust and setting new benchmarks for what Customer First should mean in modern utilities.
