Case Study: Simplifying Willingness to Pay.

 

What our client at Northern Gas Networks said.

“Create Clarity had the ability to intuitively understand what it is that we needed to achieve from this piece of work, and designed a methodology and programme of work that delivered critical actionable insights, without a high amount of input from the client. The team has understood the need and designed a solution that is intuitive of our internal and external processes.”

— Jenny Wilkinson, Stakeholder engagement and research lead

  • Business Need.

    Customer appetite for business plan investment has traditionally been measured using conjoint analysis. This approach is costly, complex, prone to bias and no longer met regulatory expectations or rising affordability concerns during RIIO-GD3. NGN needed a more practical and inclusive way to assess customers willingness and ability to pay.

  • How We Created Clarity.

    Create Clarity reviewed best practice and introduced a new framework that is simpler for customers to understand; more cost-effective and scalable; inclusive of affordability and vulnerable groups; and aligned with regulatory expectations.

    We combined Contingent Valuation and Gabor-Granger techniques with an affordability index (co-designed with Citizens Advice) to reflect both willingness and ability to pay. A large-scale engagement programme ensured reliability, including cognitive testing, visual support materials and reach into seldom-heard audiences.

  • The Impact.

    Insight that reflects real-world affordability, reduces risk, and supports fair, stakeholder-led investment decisions.

    • More robust values across business plan services, adopted internally for pricing and decision-making.

    • Affordability safeguarded with improvements accepted only when affordable to ≥75% of customers (endorsed by Citizens Panel and ISG).

    • Methodology shared across all GDNs, driving a more standardised and credible approach for RIIO-3 planning.

Our Work