With school holidays well under way, this year's BBC Countryfile Live show provided Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) with the perfect platform to distribute its Power Pack Pals information to younger attendees.

Power Pack Pals is SSEN's educational resource for primary school children as part of its commitment to empowering communities, helping young people understand how electricity works and most importantly, how to stay safe around it. The Power Pack Pals information is relayed through four fictitious friends to help spark the imagination of children and let them to understand why electricity, the 'Magic Power', is very important in our world but also very dangerous, and should be treated with extra special care.

The popular BBC Countryfile Live event held in the grounds of Oxfordshire's Blenheim Palace from 1 to 4 August, saw around 700 of the Power Pack Pals information kits handed out to the show's younger visitors, along with advice and information from SSEN's Customer and Community Advisors to their parents and guardians on how to book a Power Pack Pals presentation at their local primary school.

The annual event welcomes around 120,000 people over the four days and enables SSEN to providing attendees with information on its customer services, along with practical advice on staying safe around its central southern England network. In addition to engaging the younger audience through Power Pack Pals, SSEN addressed farm safety, rural resilience and how customers can receive additional free assistance during power cuts with its Priority Services Register when they met customers at their purpose built stand.

SSEN's Customer Relationship Manager for the Ridgeway region, Lucy Anderson explains more: "With so many of our customers living in rural areas across Oxfordshire, the BBC Countryfile Live show enables us to talk directly to them about the services we can offer that will ensure they are provided with the best care and assistance should they experience a power cut or come across any potential safety issues on our network."

"This year, we've engaged with customers across every generation; directly addressing their needs and queries, and distributing 700 Power Pack Pals kits, 450 Priority Services Register leaflets and 270 welfare packs containing a SSEN mug, 'Look out, Look Up' safety stickers, a 105 free-to-call emergency number fridge magnet, community groups social media leaflet, a glow stick, pen and a house-hold resilience plan.

"To be able to meet so many of our customers, speak to them about our services and provide them, there and then, with the help or information that they need is invaluable to us, and as many of the Parish Councils were also at the show, we were able to discuss opportunities to attend their future meetings and highlight our additional, free services to even more of our customers."

To find out more about SSEN's Power Pack Pals and how to request a talk at your local primary school, please see SSEN's specially developed, interactive website - https://www.powerpackpals.com/

Customers can qualify for SSEN's Priority Services Register 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

By registering for SSEN's PSR, customers will be proactively contacted to warn them of potential bad weather to help them prepare and to offer extra support where required. SSEN's teams will also keep in close and regular contact with its PSR customers during network outages to check they are getting the help they need.

For further information on SSEN's campaign for rural safety, see this year's
'Look out, Look up' campaign and a full report on SSEN's Resilient Communities Fund and how applications can be made, can be found here - https://www.ssen.co.uk/RCF/.