Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks on alert as we prepare for Storm Éowyn

for the north of Scotland

for central southern England

Our two network areas in the north of Scotland and central southern England have both moved to higher alert levels ahead of Storm Éowyn’s arrival early on Friday morning.  The Met Office is predicting this storm will bring the strongest winds of the winter so far, with gusts in excess of 90mph likely in some areas.

The severity of the forecast means that our north of Scotland region has moved to ‘Yellow Alert’ status, with a high likelihood of there being an impact to our network from fallen trees and wind-borne debris in certain areas.

For our central southern England region, we’re at ‘Weather Warning’ status, with damage to network infrastructure possible, particularly in exposed places.

These alert levels reflect our increased level of preparedness and our latest assessment of this weather’s potential impact. 

Possible impact on the north of Scotland

• Winds will pick up from the west from around 0600 on Friday morning, affecting Kintyre and Argyll.

• Gusts of up to 90mph are expected in exposed areas, with 65mph winds widespread.

• Storm-force gales will persist throughout Friday, affecting the west coast, the Western Isles, and much of mainland Scotland.

• Orkney and Shetland are likely to see high winds into Saturday.

Possible impact on central southern England

• Winds are forecast pick up in the early hours of the morning on Friday.

• 50mph gusts will be widespread during Friday morning, with peak wind speeds of 65mph possible in exposed areas.

• The worst of the winds are expected to move away from central southern England by noon on Friday.

The Met Office’s Amber and Yellow Weather Warnings for Storm Éowyn can be found here.

👷 How SSEN is responding  

In response to this severe forecast, we’ve already activated our well-rehearsed contingency plans. This means we’re bringing in additional teams to deal with any damage to the network and subsequent faults, which may interrupt customers’ power supplies. We’re bolstering the number of people we’ll have working in our customer contact centres; they’ll be ready to answer calls and respond to queries on social media. We are also getting in touch with hundreds of thousands of our more vulnerable customers to provide them with guidance on how to prepare, along with help and advice on what they can do if the power goes off.

We’ll continue to monitor this period of severe weather closely and will issue further updates depending on the forecast.       

SSEN Distribution’s Director of Customer Operations Andy Smith says:

“The Met Office is clear that this storm has the potential to be the worst of the winter so far. We’ve been monitoring the forecast for days as its track and severity has changed, and we’re making appropriate preparations. This planning will ensure we’re well placed to respond to any impact these storm-force winds may have on our network.

“There’s still some uncertainty in the forecast at this time, but we’re preparing for this storm to have a significant impact, and I’d like to reassure our customers we’re putting the things in place right now to ensure any disruption to their supplies is kept to a minimum. I’d like to thank people for their understanding over the next few days while we work hard to respond to this storm."

📞 Help and advice

If you see any damage to our equipment, please stay back, don’t touch it and instead report it to us directly by calling 105, or via our Power Track website, and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.

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

• Saving the emergency power cut number - '105' - to your phone to report any loss of supply or damage to the electricity network
• Visiting our Power Track Website to give you details of power cuts and restoration times. You can also report power cuts and network damage through Power Track.
• Visiting the "Preparing for a power cut" section on our website, where there is a wealth of advice and information, or to chat live to one of our advisors via the Webchat service

Customers are also eligible for our Priority Services Register (PSR) 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.

To find out more about the PSR, click here or call 0800 294 3259.