Storm Éowyn was exceptional - in the wind speeds recorded, the damage it inflicted on our network, and in the size of the response we mobilised to reconnect communities as safely and quickly as possible.
We know it’s been a challenging few days for a number of our customers. It’s taken some time to for us to complete the repairs in some areas of our network because of the extent of fallen trees blocking access, and the sheer volume of damage to overhead lines caused by the destructive winds.
Your patience and understanding while we’ve gone about this massive task has been appreciated by all of us at Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, and, with the final customers now reconnected this evening, we’d like to say a big thank you to you all.
The Met Office described Éowyn as “the strongest storm in a decade” and it caused the worst damage parts of our network have seen in many years, particularly in Argyll and Bute.
Our response in numbers
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We’ve restored power to 92,000 customers whose supplies were interrupted.
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A 1100-strong team has worked to fix faults and support affected communities.
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We’ve provided more than 7,000 hot meals to people awaiting reconnection.
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Proactive contact has been made with more than 12,000 vulnerable customers.
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30,000 people have been in touch with us via phone or social media; with average waiting times for those calling us of under 1 minute.
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There have been almost half a million visits to our Power Track website, which has provided customers with vital information and updates, keeping our phone lines free throughout the storm for those who needed to call us.
Further support for our customers
As well as the proactive support SSEN has offered for communities since the storm first hit, here are details of additional reimbursement and compensation available for customers:
Customers should keep hold of their receipts to claim costs back at www.ssen.co.uk/stormclaim. These claims can be made retrospectively. If you opted to organise your own accommodation, you can claim back reasonable costs provided you have receipts.
Customers who experienced a power cut due to this storm may also be entitled to compensation. As set by Ofgem’s Guaranteed Standards, Éowyn’s severity means that customers who were without power for more than 48 hours will be entitled to £85 compensation, and a further £40 for every additional 6 hours past this point. This is over and above the statutory compensation.
Customers don’t need to claim for this or contact SSEN; it will be issued automatically in the coming weeks.
Andy Smith, SSEN Distribution’s Director of Customer Operations for the north of Scotland, says:
“Éowyn was an exceptional storm, which required an exceptional response from us. More than one thousand people have been working hard since the storm first hit to reconnect homes and support customers, while a huge volume of network reconstruction has been done in challenging conditions. I want to say thank you to everyone who’s played their part in this response, both from our own teams, and also those of our contract partners and fellow network operators who came to support us.
“But as the restoration work draws to a close, I’d particularly like to thank all 92,000 customers whose supplies were interrupted for their patience and understanding while we’ve worked to rebuild the network as safely and as quickly as we could. The kindness shown to our teams working in communities, and the support given on social media over the past few days has been very much appreciated.
“Now supplies have been restored, I remind those who lost power to look at the compensation that’s available and to make a claim for reimbursement if they qualify.”
