Our customers rely on us at all times for their energy. However, even in today's market, some power cuts are almost inevitable. We need to make sure that our infrastructure, plants and processes are robust enough to withstand fluctuations in demand or problems caused by the weather.

Around a third of the UK's ageing generation capacity will need replacing during the next decade and, in its place, we aim to have a balanced and diverse portfolio combining renewables, nuclear, gas and cleaner coal, as well as other emerging power generation technologies. We cannot rely on one or two energy sources to ensure we can keep the lights on. This is why we're planning to build two new cleaner coal-fired units at Kingsnorth power station, which will be capable of being fitted with carbon capture and storage technology. We're also building a gas-fired CHP station, at the Isle of Grain in Kent, which will be one of the world's most efficient power stations. It is also why we're actively supporting the Government's support for nuclear by being at the forefront of companies looking to build the UK's next generation of nuclear power plants.

As technology improves, we're able to move away from our older, less efficient power stations and supplement their output with cleaner sources of power. While much of our investment focus is on building the next generation of lower carbon power plants, we're also using our expertise in power plant engineering to upgrade our existing power stations, where practicable. We need to do this to ensure we can meet the UK's energy needs in the medium term, whilst our investments in longer-term power generation reach fruition.

Our electricity distribution network is vast; its cables and overhead lines alone could circle the globe more than three times, so it's no surprise that occasionally incidents interrupt the supplies to some customers. Our priority is always to restore supplies as quickly as possible, and our performance in this area is measured by counting the number and length of interruptions to supply.

We plan decades into the future to ensure that the long-term needs of our customers will be met. On a rolling basis, we review our plans against our current performance levels. Our investment of £1.2 billion in our current programme up to 2010 to upgrade our distribution network (an increase of 55 percent over the previous five years) will help us improve the service we provide.

In 2007, our performance against target was slightly down due to a significant disruption to our networks which was caused by a single, five-day spell of bad weather. The problems caused by floods across the UK showed us that we need to bolster our flood defences, so we've used information from the Environment Agency to help us with a detailed risk assessment of our assets.