SSEN moves to Yellow Alert status in the North of Scotland

SSEN Distribution has moved to Yellow Alert status in anticipation of gale force winds which are forecast to affect the North of Scotland on Saturday morning and again on Sunday afternoon into Monday morning. 

Saturday’s weather front, named as Storm Malik by the Danish Meteorological Institute, is expected to see winds in excess of 70mph in the West and North West including the Western Isles, with gusts of 80mph also expected in Shetland and up to 65mph in other parts of our operating region. 

On Sunday afternoon, a second weather front is expected to bring wind gusts of 85mph in the Western Isles and North West Highlands, with potential gusts of up to 70mph in the west coast and in the North East.

In preparation for this unsettled weather, we have enacted our well-established resilience plans, and we are both increasing and moving additional resources to key locations in anticipation of any potential damage, including teams from our central southern England licence area.   We are also in contact with local resilience partners to aid preparations.

Proactive texts have been sent to over 59,000 customers on our Priority Services Register in advance of the storm, and our advisors are also calling those customers who are registered in the highest category of vulnerability.

We will continue to monitor weather forecasts and provide updates if the situation changes.

If you see any damaged equipment, please keep a safe distance and report it to us by calling 105 or via our Power Track App, and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.

Customers are being encouraged to be prepared for the possibility of disruption to supplies by:

• Saving the emergency power cut number – 105 – to their phone to report power cuts or damage to the electricity network
• Downloading SSEN’s Power Track app which provides details of power cuts and restoration times. Customers can also report power cuts and network damage through the Power Track app
• Going to SSEN’s website where there is a wealth of advice and information on how to deal with a power cut, or to chat live to one of SSEN’s advisors via its Webchat service
• Following SSEN on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates

Priority Services Register

Customers are eligible for the Priority Services Register if they:

• Are deaf or hard of hearing
• Have a disability
• Live with children under five
• Are blind or partially sighted
• Have a chronic illness
• Use medical equipment/aids reliant on electricity
• Are over 60
• Are categorised at ‘high risk’ or ‘extremely high risk’ of severe illness from coronavirus

For more information on our Priority Services Register, click here or call 0800 294 3259.

We will continue to monitor the weather as forecasts change and update our plans accordingly.