What is Stakeholder Engagement?
Stakeholder Engagement is an important part of local decarbonisation planning. Engagement should start early in the planning journey and continue through the development and finalisation of plans.
Engagement is key to taking account of region-specific drivers that impact the deliverability and suitability of different approaches to decarbonisation.
If you prefer video-based learning, here's a video which walks through the steps in this tutorial:
“The difference between local needs and opportunities across Great Britain means that investments suitable in one area will be less appropriate in another. Given this, as well as region-specific drivers to deliver net zero (e.g. regional net zero plans), decision on how to best meet evolving system needs will need to be increasingly led by local actors.“
– Ofgem, ‘Call for Input: Future of local energy institutions and governance‘
Creating & Sending Consultations
LAEP+ has been designed to support engagement with many different types of local stakeholders via 'Consultations'.
A consultation consists of a questionnaire and (optionally) an artefact which you would like to share with stakeholders for their review and input. Currently two types of artefact can be shared with stakeholders:
Data Stories - ideal for gathering input on baseline datasets and other data-based narratives
Scenarios - useful for collecting feedback on potential decarbonisation pathways
To create or view your consultations, navigate to the 'Stakeholder Engagement' tab in your dashboard:
You should add a title and description, a questionnaire, and a data story if you wish. Then, add stakeholders to share the consultation with. Lastly, the 'set duration' step will allow you to select a time limit for responses to your consultation.
Once you are happy with your consultation, hit 'Save and send'. This will trigger an email to your chosen stakeholders inviting them to complete the consultation.
View and Analyse Stakeholder Responses
Responses to consultations are visible as they come in and will stop collecting once the set expiry date is reached. Responses can also be exported in excel format for analysis outside the platform.
Collaborating with other Users on Consultations
Note: Just like Projects and Scenarios, Consultations you create are only visible to you unless you chose to share them with other users. Or of course if you send them to stakeholders!
If you want other users to be able to edit, send or view responses to your consultation, simply click the share icon under actions on the main page.