9.1 Facilitating access to energy

The main impact of Madrileña Red de Gas on society has always been to facilitate access to reliable and continuous energy through our investment in the infrastructure that allows the distribution of natural gas. In 2022 we have invested 14 million euros in the extension of our distribution network and 3.6 million in its renewal. Expansion of the network allows many homes, businesses, and large consumers such as hospitals or schools, and especially industry, to access natural gas.

With regard to the most direct economic impact of our investment and the presence of the natural gas network, mainly in the Community of Madrid, it is important to once again highlight the distributed economic value discussed in section 6.2. of the report (GRI 201.1 Economic value generated and distributed 2016), whereby in 2022 we have generated 80,616 (thousands of euros) of distributed economic value, of which 34,694 (thousands of euros) have been paid to suppliers. When reading this latter piece of information, we should highlight two determining elements, the levels of demand of MRG towards decent employment, as required in the supplier evaluation, selection and monitoring processes, and the very high percentage that local purchases represent for MRG (87% of significant purchases), as detailed in section 7.3 of this report, thus generating a clear and positive economic and social impact in the autonomous community in which our business operates.

As we have already discussed throughout the report, the current energy crisis, specifically the price of gas, has proved a complex challenge in this expansion effort. However, as this is a stable and secure supply for industry, the increase in major consumers in 2022 was 180 GWh and 466 new supply points.

• We have extended the network to serve a pharmaceutical laboratory that has installed new production lines and equipment using natural gas for the formulation, filling, automatic visual inspection, labelling and packaging of a vaccine against COVID19,
• to a paper factory that was receiving complaints from neighbours about its use of diesel,
• and different food and plastics industries, amongst others.

Natural gas has continued to be an efficient and sustainable solution for air conditioning in residential and tertiary areas, providing heating and hot water to homeowners associations and public buildings. During 2022, 15 rooms for homeowners associations and 35 schools have been put into service.

Another type of major consumer to highlight, which have had a positive impact for the company, have been funeral homes and crematoria. Indeed, three crematoria were put into service this past year: El Escorial, Colmenar Viejo and Valdemoro. The former two previously used other energy sources, namely propane gas and diesel, respectively. The companies that operate them decided to install new furnaces with natural gas as fuel, thus improving their efficiency and environmental emissions. The peculiarity that all these crematoria have, due to their activity, is that they are located on the outskirts of the municipalities, therefore Madrileña Red de Gas has made a large investment, as these are complex works and far from the distribution network, to ensure that they have access to energy that is more respectful with the environment.

We are fully aware of the requirements arising from European commitments to reducing polluting gas emissions in the current fight against climate change. For this reason, our current effort in investing in network infrastructures already contemplates the future distribution of H2. Purchasing specifications already contemplate this need for the immediate future, even when considering devices such as domestic meters. In this sense, we have discussed the different projects in which we are involved, providing sustainable energy solutions, in more detail in the Sustainable Business chapter of this report.

In line with this effort to use cleaner energy, last year we began the final phase of the transformation project for more than 15,000 supply points planned for 2022 and 2023.

In the past year we have performed this operation in more than 7000 homes. To that end, we have collaborated with eight leading companies in the sector, transforming more than 66 storage centres to natural gas. MRG has acted in 23 municipalities of the Community of Madrid, leaving 12 of them free from propane gas.

In 2022, we have allocated more than 5 million euros to carry out network reuse and expansion work, adapt and modify installations, transform devices and dismantle storage centres.

9.2 Always close and willing to listen

We are a company that has always understood the need for citizens, entities and public bodies to trust us. Our service requires that end users understand that natural gas, and in the future renewable gases, are their energy option. As such, it is necessary that our arrival in municipalities be accompanied by communication, complete information and spaces for dialogue that make it possible to determine, understand and take into account citizens’ concerns.

In general, town halls are an important channel for learning about and addressing the needs and problems of municipalities. In themselves, in their role as citizen representatives and. in turn, for their ability to organise meetings through them to present projects, communicate and listen.

The routes, hours of operation of the machinery, type of machinery, etc. during extension of a network must take citizens into account in order to generate the least possible negative impact (noise, dust, traffic problems, etc.).

In the past year, the social license to be able to extend the gas infrastructure network in municipalities has represented somewhat of a barrier to the successful completion of our expansion and transformation plans. Thus, the growing social awareness of climate change, the price of natural gas after the energy crisis at a European level, doubts about what the energy transition will be like and the consequences of opting for natural gas, is holding customers back somewhat. For this reason, Madrileña Red de Gas is making an effort to improve social legitimacy: what do I do, how do I do it, where do I get to, what impacts do I generate and the clear benefits as an alternative and solution for our customers to many other energy sources with greater environmental impact. This reality results in a need to increase the resources assigned for this purpose, improve the abilities of people with this social reality, improve the clarity and transparency of our messages, as well as increase our social dialogue.

In addition to always having the web or telephone channels via the Call Centre always open for requests for information or the processing of possible complaints, we are looking for clearer meeting spaces. We hold open communication sessions with the communities, the town halls, and we rely on the Municipal Consumer Information Offices (OMIC) at the town halls as a point to distribute information and collect queries.

9.3 Focussing our social action

On our materiality analysis, direct social action has not been a particularly prominent topic from the perspective of either MRG or our stakeholders. In the interviews carried out with external participants, the importance of the positive contribution via our reason for being, and the services provided by Madrileña Red de Gas, were highlighted rather than the value of possible corporate volunteer actions or specific donations.

In line with the outcome of the evaluation, and viewing this from our commitment to equal opportunities and social integration, our focus on social contribution does not look towards possible donations to specific projects or causes, although that door will always be open in the case of unique circumstances, such as the COVID19 pandemic. As a result of MRG’s culture, we see our ability to add value to vulnerable groups by way of ongoing relationships that favour the opportunity for job placement, which is why we are committed to contracting the external services that we need with different entities in the social field.

We have been working with the Fundación Prodis since 2019. This foundation works to support and promote the inclusion of persons with a mental disability.

It mainly prints invoices, notifies periodic inspections and debt recovery for us. Every week we send our files with the documentation to be sent and three people download the information, print and put the letters into envelopes then send them to the post office for distribution. This allows these people to do paid work, thus facilitating their social inclusion. We are very grateful to the foundation for giving us this opportunity.

To the same end, we hired Ilulion, a company belonging to the ONCE Group, whose purpose is to facilitate the integration of people from vulnerable groups into the workplace, to provide the office cleaning services that we need.

We also continue to collaborate financially with the Fundación Española de la Energía, a non-profit foundation belonging to the public sector that contributes to the development of regional energy policy within the European framework.