Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has teamed up with medical centres and doctors' surgeries across Dorset to highlight free additional services for customers, and to encourage them to sign up.
Over 400 free Winter Packs have been distributed by SSEN's Customer and Community Advisors for the area, Anthony Ball and Joe Cherrett, to individual Dorset sites where staff will share the packs with visitors and patients. The SSEN Winter Packs have been designed to help residents and communities get ready for the potential of poor weather over the winter months, by providing information on how to prepare, key contact numbers and how SSEN can help in the face of adverse weather events and during power cuts.
A key part of this drive is getting more people signed up to SSEN's Priority Services Register (PSR). By registering for the 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.
Many people can feel vulnerable when their electricity goes off, especially during severe weather and customers can join the 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/aidsreliant on electricity
- Are over 60
In addition to PSR information, the re-usable cotton bags containing the packs also provide handy contact numbers to report power cuts or to ask for advice, pens and a torch, along with a fridge magnet with a reminder of the free-to-call emergency number. The packs also supply information on Wessex Water, so recipients are able to find out more about another of the utilities local to the area and the assistance available to them in their community.
SSEN's Customer and Community Advisor for Wessex, Joe Cherrett said:
"At SSEN, we're always looking for the best ways to reach out to our customers and as our Priority Services Register also aims to help people who may have a short-term medical condition or who may have recently come home from hospital, it made sense for us to work in partnership with medical centres and GP surgeries.
"Through our ongoing partnership with Wessex Water, we're able to supply a PSR leaflet that provides both SSEN and Wessex Water customers with a single sign up, for both services, that can be done by the individual, a family member or carer.
"This is a great opportunity to further promote the Priority Services Register and 105 emergency number to our customers, and we're really grateful to all of the local centres and surgeries who have joined us to raise awareness and enable us to target extra support to those who need it."
Cllr Laura Miller, Dorset Council portfolio holder for Adult Social Care and Health said:
"As the weather becomes ever more unpredictable the need for initiative on the part of energy suppliers is understood, and very welcome.
"The SSEN initiative in Dorset, where staff and volunteers at Day Centres, GP Practices, and voluntary organisations in North, Mid and West Dorset have helped distribute the SSEN winter packs to the most vulnerable people in their area, is particularly appreciated by all concerned.
"SSEN is to be congratulated for its generous, practical and timely contribution to the health and wellbeing of Dorset residents."
To find out more about the PSR, please visit webpage or call 0800 294 3259. For further information on all the support available from SSEN, and for helpful advice on preparing for and dealing with a power cut, please visit our website.