The north of England’s gas distributor, Northern Gas Networks (NGN), overcame stiff competition to win two awards at The Institute of Customer Service 2015 Customer Satisfaction Awards in London last night.

Building on the success of seven customer award wins in the final quarter of 2014, NGN is continuing to prove that customers are at the heart of everything they do.

Despite the competition consisting of national big hitters including Marks & Spencer, Sky Broadcasting, LV= and Volkswagen, NGN were triumphant in two of the seven categories they were nominated in, taking home the InMoment Customer Commitment Award and the Quality Service Provider Award.

The UK Customer Satisfaction Awards recognise organisations and individuals that have implemented successful customer service strategies. Taking place alongside the Institute of Customer Service’s Annual Conference, the awards were judged by industry experts, business leaders and academics.

The UK Customer Satisfaction Awards judges said: “Northern Gas Networks not only received a high score in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, but also actively encourages other utilities to learn from its example with a view to improving the quality of service across the whole Utility sector.

“The Institute was impressed by the way the organisation has transformed its customer service strategy with strong leadership, determined goals and an effective employee engagement strategy.”

Mark Horsley, Chief Executive Officer, Northern Gas Networks, said of the award win: “Over the last few years we’ve work extremely hard to transform our business into a genuinely customer focused operation. Our recent flurry of customer service award wins is a direct result of this hard work. To now win two more at the UK Customer Satisfaction Awards is the icing on the cake.

“We were up against some tough competition including LV, Volkswagen and Capital One. This makes me feel even more proud of our achievement as it demonstrates that we are not only setting the standard for customer service in the utility sector, but outside of our industry too.”

Jo Causon, CEO of The Institute of Customer Service said: “The popularity of this year’s awards shows how customer service is a key business focus for organisations of all kinds. It’s also pleasing to see an increasing number of organisations across a wide range of different sectors taking part in these awards. It is clear that some of the most successful and effective organisations in the UK are those making a real investment into delivering the highest standards of customer experience.

“We have to celebrate not only the high standards and professionalism of the award winners, but also the increasing numbers of organisations that are focusing on customer service as a strategy to drive sustainable business performance

NGN delivers gas to 2.7 million homes and businesses across the North of England and provides the region’s rapid response service for customers who smell gas at home or work.