Our community strategy focuses on:

Education through Energy - using curriculum-based and extra-curricular learning to educate young people about the concept of energy and our role in it, through the energy we use and the energy we produce.

Community Energy Solutions - using our energy expertise to provide energy solutions to community issues, and so improve the social environments in which we operate.

Our Director of Brand Strategy   and Retail Communications has operational responsibility for the strategy, with Board-level responsibility being provided by our General Counsel and Company Secretary.

We are a member of the London Benchmarking Group, a group of more than 100 companies working together to measure community investment within a recognised framework. We are also an active member of Business in the Community.

Participants in, and beneficiaries of, the majority of our community activities are asked to complete evaluation forms so we can monitor and track the effectiveness of our programmes. Regular review meetings are held with all our external stakeholders to monitor the success of our programmes.

We aim to maximise the benefit of our community programmes through:

• increased E.ON brand awareness
• demonstrating our commitment to the environment and education
• recognising the link between community involvement and pride in the business
• identifying key areas of the business impacted by community relations and focusing on business benefits
• engaging with the media - ensuring appropriate PR and media coverage for all programmes
• providing cost-effective alternative routes to learning and skills development.

The number of employees applying for our matched funding scheme has more than doubled during 2005, as has the amount of money raised for good causes.

Community investment and charitable support, £

2004	2005	2006
1,621,682	1,686,550	2,517,788

We have been members of the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) since 2003. LBG consists of leading international corporations that measure, manage and report on the extent of their community involvement. Key categories are used to measure voluntary community investment and charitable support. The number of employees applying for our matched funding scheme has risen dramatically each year, as has the amount of money raised for good causes.