So Energy | Contract Beyond the Contract: Utility Week Awards ESG Initiative of the Year shortlist nomination

At the tail end of 2023, we attended the Utility Week Awards in London, having been shortlisted for the Environmental, Social and Governance Initiative of the Year Award for our Contract Beyond the Contract. Recognising the wider impact utilities can have on the communities they operate in, their role as stewards of the environment and their wider responsibilities as socially conscious companies, the awards celebrate those that are going beyond regulatory requirement to have impact.

As a supplier who was founded on the basis of wanting to change the industry for the better, we launched our ‘Contract Beyond the Contract’ initiative in August. Acting as an extension of our Diversity and Belonging Strategy, this ‘contract’ calls on our partners throughout the supply chain to work together to diversify the energy sector.

This initiative, in line with the POWERful Women Energy Leaders’ Coalition, encourages collaboration with our partners over the next five years to diversify our workforces and bring about policies and practices that are inclusive of all people. Committing to the ‘Contract Beyond a Contract’ recognises a dedication to working in collaboration to achieve a diversified UK energy sector.

A more diverse sector is not the only issue we want to address, we are supportive of a decarbonised sector. We believe that you cannot achieve innovative solutions to challenges such as net zero without a more diverse workforce – diversity in all senses of the word, including diversity of thought and background. A workforce that is more representative of the people we serve can only help us, to help you.

To help achieve this, we’ve set various diversity targets including 50% female representation across the junior, middle management and leadership levels by 2028, as well as a 30% ethnic minority representation target at leadership levels. We are currently baselining other diversity statistics to set further goals by 2024.

The 2023 Utility Week Awards was a great opportunity for us to come together as a utility industry and showcase the range of environmental, social and governance initiatives across the sector. We recognise the importance of championing these initiatives to pave the way for positive change, and that is why in 2024 we will be increasing our focus on ESG projects.

“Here at So Energy we are committed to championing diversity both internally and within the sector more broadly. Through our Contract Beyond the Contract, we are looking forward to working with more of our partners as we move into 2024 to deliver this. As CEO, I am proud that in line with this we are driving a number of further initiatives to help facilitate greater diversity in the energy sector, including Code First Girls and The Circl Leadership Development Programme, to address the skills and training gap in leadership and technology.”

- Simon Oscroft, Co-Founder & CEO

Call to Action:

After launching the ‘Contract Beyond the Contract’, we have already received an amazing response from our partners who are keen to sign-up.

“We’re proud to support So Energy and the outstanding work that they do to make a positive impact in the industry. Their commitment to transparency, collaboration and sustainable excellence aligns seamlessly with our values. We're committed to support their growth for many years to come.”

- Holly Brailsford, Empowering Energy Leaders Globally

We are calling on the whole energy community, from our call centres to engineers and all the way up to our board rooms, to sign up and go beyond simply a baseline to continuously improve and ensure a more diversified industry where no one is left behind. We will continue to drive the ‘Contract Beyond the Contract’ initiative and will be reaching out to our partners for more commitments in 2024.