Following the impact of Storm Caroline, which has seen prolonged gale force winds affecting many areas across the north of Scotland, SSEN has now successfully reconnected the vast majority of homes affected, with power safely restored to over 14,000 customers. The main areas affected have been the Western Isles, north-west Highlands, Caithness, Moray, north-east Aberdeenshire, Orkney and Shetland.
Due to the persistent and severe nature of wind speeds still being felt across parts of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, coupled with difficulty gaining access to faults, as of 10pm this evening SSEN has taken the decision to stand down its field based teams in these locations for safety reasons and around 500 customers will remain off supply overnight.
SSEN's Customer Contact Centre continues to proactively contact affected customers to advise them of the situation and offer extra support, including welfare facilities and hot food and drinks.
SSEN will resume efforts to restore power first thing tomorrow morning and its teams will remain on standby throughout the night to respond to any new faults, where it is safe to do so.
Due to the continued storm situation and tomorrow's forecast for falling temperatures and heavy snow, SSEN will remain on Yellow Alert due to the continued risk of weather related damage to its network. A risk of lightning also remains.
SSEN is asking its customers to remain prepared for the possibility of disruption to supplies and continues to liaise with local resilience partners to help coordinate efforts and ensure that everyone is prepared.
Director of Customer Operations, Dale Cargill, said:
"I would like to thank all our customers who have experienced a power cut for their continued patience as our teams battle against the elements to restore power. We would also like to apologise to any customers who remain off supply and would like to reassure them that we are well prepared and resourced to carry our repairs to our network and will resume efforts first thing tomorrow morning.
"With heavy snow and risk of lightning forecast for many parts tomorrow as well as the continued gale force winds we remain on Yellow Alert. If any of our customers do experience a power cut, or have any concerns about a vulnerable family member or community member, I would encourage them to please call us on the national power cut emergency number, 105."
SSEN has been tracking the weather event for a number of days in preparation for Storm Caroline and has enacted its well-established resilience plans. This includes increasing standby resources and moving people and equipment to areas in anticipation of potential damage:
- Over 850 frontline staff and support teams have been deployed to locations expected to be impacted by Storm Caroline, including the Scottish islands, to respond promptly to damage, where it is safe to do so.
- 83 mobile generation units have been deployed across SSEN's network to assist with efforts to restore power.
- Catering and welfare vans have also been strategically located across SSEN's network to offer support to customers who experience a loss of supply.
- Two helicopters are on standby to support efforts to respond to damage to SSEN's network, when it is safe to fly.
- All local resilience partners have been warned and informed, with key partners such as local authorities, the British Red Cross and the Salvation Army on hand to help support efforts.
- SSEN's Customer Services team has proactively contacted over 78,000 of its Priority Services Register customers to pre-warn them of the potential impact of Storm Caroline and to offer extra support where required.
SSEN is also encouraging its customers not to approach any damage to its equipment and, instead, report it to SSEN by calling 105 and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.
NOTES:
Customers are encouraged to be prepared in the event of possible disruption to power supplies, by:
- Saving the new 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
- Downloading SSEN's Power Track app to give you details of power cuts and restoration times
- Going to SSEN's website where there is a wealth of advice and information on how to deal with a power cut
- Following SSEN on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates
In the event of an interruption in power supplies, SSEN's customer service team will make outbound calls to customers on our Priority Service Register (PSR) to offer extra assistance, where required. People can qualify for the PSR if they:
- Are dependent on electricity for home medical care
- Have a chronic illness or short term medical condition
- Are disabled
- Have special communication needs
- Have children under the age of five
- Are over the age of 60
To find out more about the PSR, click here or call 0800 294 3259.