Overview of the Electric Utility Sector Supplement development process
The pilot version of the GRI Electric Utility Sector Supplement has been in development since June 2006. A global, multi-stakeholder working group of 21 expert practitioners has been working using a consensus-seeking approach on this Sector Supplement. The group includes representatives from the electric utility companies together with report information user groups such as civil society organizations, labor organizations, investors, and rating agencies.
The draft Supplement was released in January 2007 for a public comment period of 90 days, during which time all interested parties were invited to submit their feedback on the draft.
Following the closure of the public comment period, the Electric Utility Sector Supplement working group has reviewed the 45 sets of comments received, and made changes to the draft. The revised draft has been approved by the GRI Technical Advisory Committee to be released as a pilot version, which is available above.
What next?
The Electric Utility Sector Supplement will undergo a major piloting process in the coming months.
A multi-stakeholder group of about 25-30 participants (equally divided between the industry and non-industry stakeholders with balanced constituency and geographic representation) will participate in this process. The group will work primarily through teleconference calls and email exchanges, but there will also be up to three face-to-face meetings during the course of the process.
Electric Utility companies participating in the process are expected to prepare a sustainability report using the Sector Supplement together with the G3 Guidelines. A Structured Feedback Process will assess whether further refinement and consultation is needed, prior to its release as a final version.
Protocols will be developed with input from the participants for all the new sector-specific disclosures and indicators included in the pilot version of the Sector Supplement. The revised draft will be subject to a 90-day public comment period prior to submission to the TAC. The outcome of this process is forwarded by the TAC to the GRI Board of Directors before release as a final version.
Join the Electric Utilities Practitioners’ Network
The Practioner's Network is a group of expert practitioners who voluntarily engage throughout the Sector Supplement development process via email and telephone to provide feedback on key issues and topics to the piloting group.
If interested, email GRI with “Practitioners Network Electric Utility” as the subject.