As of 9pm this evening, electricity supplies have been successfully restored to over 35,000 properties, with around 7,600 properties currently off supply.
The areas that continue to be impacted are mainly concentrated in Aberdeenshire, including parts of Longside, Stuartfield, Peterhead, Cornhill, Oyne, Forgue, Tarland, Huntly, Old Rayne. Ellon, Banff, Turriff, Mintlaw, Maud, Old Deer, Insch and surrounding areas; rural Moray; and small pockets of customers across Caithness.
SSEN’s teams will be back out from first light tomorrow morning to continue efforts to restore power to customers who remain off supply. Additional resources are also being deployed to support tomorrow’s restoration efforts, including further support from other electricity network operators and contractors from across the country.
To help support those customers who remain off supply, SSEN continues to work closely with local resilience partners to coordinate welfare arrangements and identify those customers who may need additional support. SSEN has proactively contacted over 130,000 customers on its Priority Services Register and continues to call those in the highest categories of vulnerability to check on their welfare and provide additional support.
Mobile food vans have been deployed to the main areas still off supply, with the following locations to restart serving food and drinks from 8am tomorrow morning:
- Cruden Bay (Main Street Bay)
- Huntly (Car Park at Market Muir)
- Aberchirder (Car Park at the Square)
- Hatton (Car Park beside the Village Hall)
- Insch (Outside the Church)
- Mintlaw (Macbi Community Hub Car Park)
- Maud (Market Street outside the Social Club)
- Kennethmont (Clatt Village Hall Car Park)
In line with SSEN’s established welfare policy, any customer who has been off supply for longer than 12 hours is also entitled to claim up to £30 for food, per day. Customers are asked to keep copies of receipts for any claims.
Mark Rough, Operations Director at SSEN Distribution, said:
“Despite the extreme weather conditions throughout this morning and ongoing challenges gaining access to faults, our teams have made excellent progress restoring power to those homes impacted by Storm Otto and we would like to thank all customers impacted for their ongoing patience and understanding.
“We would also like to thank the support we have had from other network operators and contractors from across the country, with additional resources ready to support tomorrow’s restoration works from first light.
“We continue to work closely with our resilience partners to support our customers as required, particularly those on our Priority Services Register, and would encourage anyone who may need additional support to contact our dedicated teams on the power cut helpline, 105.”
The next update will be provided mid-morning tomorrow.
Advice for customers
We are urging people not to approach any damaged equipment and instead, to report it by calling 105 or via our Power Track App and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.
Customers are also being encouraged to be prepared for the possibility of ongoing disruption to supplies by:
- Saving the emergency power cut number – 105 – to your phone to use if your power goes off, or if you see any damage to the electricity network
- Visiting our Power Track website to get details on power cuts and restoration times, as well as to report power cuts and network damage. Or download the Power Track app on Apple or Android.
- Following SSEN on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates
Priority Services Register
SSEN’s Priority Services Register (PSR) provides extra help and support during a power cut. Customers are eligible for our free priority services 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
- Temporarily need extra support
To find out more about the PSR, click here or call 0800 294 3259.
Priority Services
