22 December 2009 09:44
E.ON sparks online energy debate with YouTube channel

The company launched the channel - www.youtube.com/user/talkingenergy - earlier this year to spark debate about key energy issues faced by the UK.

Topics covered so far include E.ON's ‘trilemma' - the need to balance reliability, affordability and low carbon energy - and renewable power.

Talking Energy is now the 34^th most subscribed sponsor channel with more than 20,000 views, making it the top UK energy company channel by some distance.

But the biggest spike in hits came during this year's climate protests at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.

The company posted videos from Plant Manager Ray Smith, and from Jonathan Smith and Emily Highmore from the external comms team before and during the protest.

And the company also posted all relevant videos they received from protesters to give everyone the chance to have their say.

As a result, the channel saw more than 7,000 hits and five video postings over the week that led up to the protests and during the protests itself.

Jeremy Davies, Director of Brand & Communications at E.ON, said: "The response to the Talking Energy channel during the Ratcliffe protest was incredible and also served to show the blurring of the lines between ‘old' and new media as the Guardian took a quote off one of the videos we posted for their print edition.

"Our moderator also did sterling work throughout the week answering every sensible query that we had - something that we've done throughout the channel's existence.

"Our aim remains to have a debate about the future of energy in the UK and to use all means of doing that at our disposal, in fact our current advertising campaign is based around the trilemma as well.

"And, having successfully dipped our toes into the new media space, we've now also launched a microsite and are looking at developing content for that throughout the year."

The latest videos for the channel feature content around the theme of energy efficiency and fuel poverty, with security of supply being the next subject to be tackled early in the new year.

E.ON's microsite can be accessed at www.eontalkingenergy.com.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. We employ around 16,000 people in the UK and more than 90,000 worldwide;
• E.ON's retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK with around 5.5 million electricity and gas customers, covering domestic, SME and industrial. E.ON also offers central heating and boiler care;
• Our distribution business, branded Central Networks, provides a reliable supply to 9.5m people in central England through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables - enough to go round the Earth more than three times - and via almost 94,000 substations. The company covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast;
• We are sponsoring The FA Cup, which is known as The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON;
• The generation business produces enough electricity to cater for the needs of around eight million homes from a portfolio of world-class gas-, coal- and oil-fired power stations;
• We are a market leader in combined heat and power, providing our customers with around 600MW of electricity and more than 1,000MW of heat at 13 sites across the country;
• We're one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 20 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We own and operate one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations at Lockerbie. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester;
• Our green development portfolio could power over a million homes and displace the emission of almost two million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year by building new onshore and offshore wind farms, biomass power stations, and tidal stream and wave power schemes;
• Our target is to cut the carbon released by each kW of electricity we generate by 10% between 2005-2012, having already reduced it by 20% since 1990;
• We have 1,500MW of renewable capacity under development;
• We have installed over 350,000 cavity wall and loft installation measures since 2006, as well as energy efficient boilers and smart meters to help customers manage their energy more efficiently;
• We are investing £50 million in new technologies and approaches over 10 years, through the Energy Technologies Institute;
• We have Biodiversity Action Plans at many of our sites which align us with the UK target of significantly reducing biodiversity loss;
• E.ON Group has announced it intends to reduced the carbon intensity of its generation by 50% by 2030 (on 1990 levels);
• E.ON Group aims to spend €8bn between 2007 and 2011 on renewable generation and climate protection activities.

For more information contact:

Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676