Storm Éowyn continues to affect electricity supplies for customers in the north of Scotland

Exceptionally strong winds from Storm Éowyn continue to have an impact on power supplies across Scotland, including in our north of Scotland network region. Around 60 thousand customers who lost power earlier in the day have now had their supplies restored, and work is ongoing this evening to reconnect those who’re still without electricity.

As of 9:30pm tonight, supplies have been restored to around 60,000 customers, with 37,320 currently without power. Storm-force winds are expected to continue for the rest of the evening and overnight, and these will have an ongoing impact on the network.

Our teams have worked hard all day to restore supplies - including through remote switching, which transfers many customers’ supplies to an unaffected circuit.  However, today’s exceptional wind speeds and challenging conditions mean it’s likely to take a number of days for our engineers to be able to safely complete all necessary repairs on affected parts of the network.

This storm is still moving across much of Scotland tonight, but once the full impact of Éowyn becomes clear, we’ll be able to assess the full extent of the repairs that will be needed. This will inform any updates to restoration times that are being issued. 

Our response in detail 

We’ve brought in additional teams and contractors and based them in the areas affected by this storm. The size of the response team is now at least 10 times the usual level. These resources are being deployed across the network to help support affected customers in the following ways:   

• Many more engineers are in place across the network where the impact is greatest; they’ll fix faults as safely and as quickly as they can.
• Crews from our sister network area in central southern England are also on their way to support the response.
• Extra operators are in the control room, to reroute the network around faults. In many cases, this can be done relatively quickly, meaning shorter interruptions to supplies. 
• The team in our customer contact centre has been bolstered significantly, to handle the increase in the volume of calls coming in from customers, and to respond to messages sent in via social media. 
• Additional tree-cutting teams are being deployed to assist engineers in accessing faults on the network; the high winds have brought many trees down, and this is causing access issues not only for our colleagues, but for other essential services too. 
• Text messages have been sent to almost 170,000 more vulnerable customers in the north of Scotland, giving them help and advice on how to in case they lose power. Telephone calls have also been made to the most vulnerable in worst-hit areas, to offer additional support. 

The severity of the storm 

Storm Éowyn has brought wind gusts of up to 100mph on exposed coasts and hills in western areas. Wind speeds of around 90mph were recorded earlier on Islay and in Machrihanish. Gusts will remain high, both inland and along the coasts, throughout tonight and into tomorrow morning when the storm begins to move out of SSEN’s north of Scotland network area.

As part of a wider support package, customers who’ve had no power for more than 12 hours are entitled to £30 per person for every day without power, to cover the cost of food and drink. People should keep hold of receipts and claim costs back at www.ssen.co.uk/stormclaim.

SSEN’s Director of Customer Operations for the north of Scotland, Andy Smith, says:  

“It’s been a day of sustained storm-force winds, the like of which we’ve not seen here for many years. Storm Éowyn has significantly affected the electricity network across Scotland.

“We’re now getting a fuller picture of the extent of damage caused by this storm, and what we’re finding indicates that some major repairs will need to be carried out. As soon as these dangerous winds subside, we’ll get to work on the network and do this as safely and as quickly as we can.

“However, in some cases, it’s likely to take a few days to fully restore supplies. We’ll do all we can to support our customers and communities while we carry out these repairs, and I’d like to thank people for their patience while works are completed.”

📞 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.