Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has returned to business as usual for its north of Scotland region following the impact on its electricity network resulting from Storms Barbara and Conor.
From early on Friday 23 December through to the evening of Monday 26 December, the north of Scotland has experienced a period of prolonged extreme weather with sustained, at times hurricane-force, winds; multiple lightning strikes; snow and hail, resulting in damage to the electricity network and disruption to supplies. The main areas impacted by the extreme weather were the Western Isles, Orkney, Shetland and North West Highlands.
Despite experiencing wind gusts in excess of 80mph across all three island groups - the highest speed recorded being over 90mph in Shetland - and sustained wind speeds of around 70mph widely recorded across the north of Scotland, SSEN's network stood up well to the challenging wind conditions, with a significant proportion of faults as a result of direct lightning strikes.
Over the duration of the period (23-26 December) SSEN successfully restored power to over 40,000 homes, the majority of which were restored within two hours. In preparation for the extreme weather SSEN increased its levels of front-line and support staff, moving engineers, equipment and welfare facilities to strategic areas allowing a speedy response to all faults, when it was safe to do so.
Dale Cargill, Director of Customer Operations for SSEN, said:
"We would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding, particularly given the time of year, as we restored power to homes following Storms Barbara and Conor. I would also like to pay tribute to our dedicated front-line and support teams, many of whom gave up their holidays to ensure we were well prepared to respond swiftly to any damage to our network and keep disruption to our customers to a minimum.
"Whilst we all now look forward to a welcome period of calmer conditions, we remain well prepared for the changeable nature of the Scottish weather. Any customers who do suffer a loss of power at any time can contact us on the new national power cut helpline '105' where they can also advise if they require extra support from our priority service."