Stakeholder Management Process ‘Power Plant Forum’ in Gönyű

The key goal of the process is to maintain a dialogue between the citizens of Gönyű and the representatives of E.on.

Since 2007, E.on Power Plants Ltd. (E.on Erőművek Kft.) in cooperation with the Partners Hungary Foundation has met regularly with the citizens of Gönyű in order to maintain dialogue on the gas power plant investment in the small town. E.on is a German company which has built and is now operating the gas power plant in the town. According to the state regulation and E.on's protocol, the company was obliged to inform the public about the plans and have some dialogue about it with the citizens. Crucially, in this case, E.on went further than it was obliged to do. The company made sure all stakeholders and citizens who had an interest in the issue were invited to the forum and were able to contribute their remarks. The initial idea was to have the Power Plant Forum only during the construction period, however as E.on and other stakeholders felt its usefulness and it has been running for 10 years now.

The key goal of the process is to maintain a dialogue between the citizens of Gönyű and the representatives of E.on. The regular work of the forum is designed and facilitated by Partners Hungary Foundation (PHF) as an external organisation creating a framework for useful, effective communication and cooperation.

The stakeholders are different representatives of the smaller and wider community. They were mapped, interviewed and invited by PHF to be members of the power plant forum. The forum now works with about 20 local participants representing institutions, civil and business organisations and regular citizens. In the first two-year period during the construction and the start of operation 10 forums were organised. Now the forum is organised once a year based on the needs of the participants. The goals of the stakeholder management process are to share information, ask questions and get first-hand answers, share opinions and different views, define the problems and develop suggestions for solving them, to listen and understand, and last but not least to develop real cooperation among the stakeholders. The initiative helped the citizens form a clear picture about the operation of the power plant. Through this process they gained trust and there is a good relationship between the company and the citizens. https://www.eon-hungaria.com/en/corporate/uniper-hungary-kft/gonyu-power-plant