From the early hours of Friday morning when Storm Otto’s impacts started to be felt, SSEN’s teams, supported by other network operators and contractors from across GB, have been working tirelessly to carry out repairs and reconnect customer supplies.
Teams have had to respond to over 200 high voltage faults and many more instances of damage on SSEN’s high voltage network as a result of fallen trees, branches and other wind-blown debris. In total, power has now been restored to 43,000 homes, over 95% of which were reconnected within 24 hours. Whilst the initial impacts of Storm Otto were spread across the north of Scotland, the main areas affected were in the North East, particularly Aberdeenshire and Moray
For any customer who is off supply now, SSEN asks them to call 105 to report this, as it may be a very localised fault not visible through network monitoring or an issue with an internal electrical supply.
In preparation for Storm Otto, SSEN enacted its well-established resilience plans, mobilising additional teams and resources across its network region. As teams successfully restored power from area to area, all available resources were redeployed to those areas most impacted, using mobile generation where required. At the peak, around 750 field and support staff supported restoration efforts.
The outcome of SSEN’s extensive action plan following last year’s winter storms can be seen in its response to Storm Otto. Having undertaken additional network resilience and tree cutting activities, SSEN’s main network held up well to the extreme weather conditions. Whilst damage was still extensive in some parts, as would always be expected with this force of weather, it was less so on the core network which aided response and restoration times significantly.
Building further on lessons learned from last winter’s extreme weather events, SSEN successfully increased customer communication capacity as it sought to also provide far more accurate and useful estimated restoration times for its customers. This effort was particularly focused on customers who were likely to remain off supply overnight, allowing people to make informed choices and consider alternative arrangements. SSEN has also worked closely with local and national resilience partners, establishing welfare provisions from day one to ensure customers impacted were supported throughout, particularly those on its Priority Services Register.
Mark Rough, Operations Director at SSEN Distribution, said:
“I’d like to thank all our customers for their continued patience and understanding as our teams worked tirelessly to restore power to all homes impacted by Storm Otto.
“Whilst the impact of Storm Otto was not as prolonged as that of other storms experienced last winter, with sustained wind speeds in excess of 70mph and storm-force gusts of 85mph across the north east, in some areas higher than Storm Arwen, impacts were unavoidable, and we were fully prepared for damage to our overhead line infrastructure.
“I would like to recognise and publicly thank our field and support staff alongside the line crews from other network operators and contractors who worked to restore over 200 faults and reconnect supplies as quickly as possible, often delivering ahead of targets. I would also like to extend our thanks to our local and national resilience partners for all their efforts in supporting customers and communities.
“With all customers now reconnected, our focus turns to repairing remedial damage and our teams will continue working on the network in the coming days to restore it to full operation. In doing this, we will try to minimise the need for any planned interruptions, but if we do need to turn off your power for a short period, we’ll let you know in advance.
“If you remain off supply at this point, we would encourage you to report it by calling 105 as it may be a very localised fault or an issue with your internal electrical supply.”
Reimbursement arrangements
As part of SSEN’s established welfare framework, customers who were off supply for more than 12 hours are entitled to £30 per person for every day they're without power to cover the cost of food and drink. Customers on SSEN’s Priority Services Register are also entitled to reimbursement of hotel accommodation after their first night without power.
Customers are asked to retain their receipts and submit these to us once their power is back on. They can do this at www.ssen.co.uk/otto/ Once submitted, SSEN will process claims and issue reimbursement via cheque as quickly as possible.
Compensation arrangements
Once final fault assessments are carried out, customers impacted for over 48 hours will be entitled to compensation under the regulated Guaranteed Standards of Performance. For power interruptions over 48 hours, customers will receive £70, with a further £70 for every subsequent 12-hour period they were off supply.
Customers do not need to contact SSEN to request compensation. This process is automatic and will be processed as quickly as possible in the weeks after the event.
Direct communication on this process will follow. This is over and above any reimbursement costs.
Priority Services
