ELECTRICITY North West has announced it's looking to invest almost £2bn in the region.

The utility firm is looking for more feedback on a near finalised plan following a public consultation involving 18,000 residents.

Proposals include an investment of £1.97bn between 2023 and 2028, a 44 per cent increase on current funding.

It aims to cut the number and duration of power cuts by 20 per cent, provide more resilience from storms and floods, invest in green energy generation to increase the networks capacity and help vulnerable customers.

Peter Emery, chief executive, said: “The challenge of delivering stretching environmental ambitions on net zero while keeping bills low and making sure we don’t leave anybody behind is tough.

“Our research has shown that 80 per cent of customers are willing to pay an extra £9.80 to achieve our ambitious proposals but that means 20 per cent aren't.

"We've worked hard to find a solution through innovation and efficiencies where we can deliver that high level of investment for just £2.14 extra a year on the average household bill.

“The result is to facilitate a greener, fairer, more prosperous and more connected future for our region.

"But before we finalise our plan we want to get the views of our customers and stakeholders - we'd encourage anybody to read through our plan and let us know what they think.”

Plans include investment in the 57,000km of underground and overhead cables it takes to power the region’s 2.4m homes and businesses.

It says demand on the network is set to intensify over the next decade just as the Government makes moves to cut carbon emissions by 68 per cent by 2030 and become a net zero carbon economy by 2050.

For two years Electricity North West has consulted about 18,000 customers and stakeholders through a range of physical and virtual forums, a dedicated online community, surveys and other engagement events.

The firm's interested in hearing from customers before it submits plans to Ofgem on July 1.

For more information on the consultation click here.