Teams from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) continue to make good progress in restoring power to customers affected by the adverse weather in central southern England today.

Heavy snow and winds of up to 70mph have caused damage to SSEN's overhead network, leading to disruption to customer supplies. The main areas affected are Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and parts of Berkshire. Access issues, including a number of road closures, have hampered efforts to carry out repairs.

From 6am this morning, engineers have restored power to over 42,000 customers. As of 8pm tonight, 5,400 customers remain off supply.

SSEN engineers will continue to work throughout the remainder of this evening to locate faults and carry out repairs. Due to continuing issues with access to fault locations in the Oxfordshire area, we expect around 800 customers will remain without power overnight. These include North Leach, Burford, Grove, Farringdon and Kidlington. All customers in this situation are being contacted by our customer service centres and welfare facilities offered.

In addition, welfare vans, serving free hot food and drinks are now available in the following locations:

  • Church Way Car Park, Oxford OX2 9LH
  • Fox Inn, Denchworth, OX12 0DX
  • Abingdon Prep School, Abingdon, OX13 9NX
  • Taynton, Burford, OX18 4UH

In preparation for this weather event, SSEN drafted in extra resources, with over 850 frontline and support staff on duty, and moved equipment to areas it expected to be most affected. Over 137,000 customers on its Priority Service Register were also proactively contacted to offer extra help and support.


Craig Gilroy, Director of Customer Operations for SSEN, said:

"With worst of the weather now behind us, our engineers are making good progress restoring power to the remaining homes affected by today's weather event and I'd like to assure our customers that we will continue to work through this evening to restore supplies as quickly and safely as possible.

"Unfortunately, with heavy snow and travel issues still restricting access to fault locations, we expect around 800 customers in Oxfordshire to remain without power overnight. Plans are in place to contact each of these customers to offer further support and provide welfare facilities, if required."

"I'd like to thank customers for their patience as our teams work to restore power. If any customers have any specific requests, or are concerned about a vulnerable family member or neighbour, I would encourage them to please call us on the national power cut emergency number, 105."

A further update will follow at 11pm this evening.

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.