Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) met with the North East Hampshire MP to discuss its preparations for winter. The network operator has invested £13.5m in 2020, across its southeast patch, boosting network resilience across Hampshire.

As part of this, SSEN is undertaking a comprehensive tree-cutting programme and is calling for its customers to download its Power Track app in preparation for winter.

SSEN hosted Ranil Jayawardena MP to discuss its preparations for winter onsite in Hook, Hampshire to discuss the role of tree cutting and its Power Track app. A critical part of SSEN's preparations for storm seasons is its tree-cutting programme, which helps protect its 130,000km of cables.

The tree cutting programme helps avoid trees striking and damaging the network during storms and periods of unsettled weather. During these periods SSEN has made available its Power Track app. The app allows its customers to report damage, track power cuts and share photos directly with the network operator, and has been downloaded over 85,000 times.

Ranil Jayawardena MP said: "I welcome SSEN's investment in Hampshire to support a resilient network and electricity supply. The Power Track app is a fantastic way to keep up to date on faults, and I would urge everyone to download it, and stay safe around electricity network infrastructure."

The Power Track is available to download on the App Store, Google Play Store, and Windows Phone Store. For customers that prefer traditional methods, dialling 105 will take them straight to SSEN's dedicated customer service team.

SSEN storm preparations were recently put to the test by Storm Alex, against which its network responded strongly, thanks to the commitment and work of SSEN's engineers and tree cutters.

Timoleon Manolopoulos, SSEN's Head of Operational Support said:

"It was great to host Ranil and discuss in depth how the work we do here keeps the lights on in households and businesses across his constituency. The timing couldn't have been better; with Storm Alex upon us Ranil had a snapshot of the difficult conditions we have to work under to support network resilience in Hampshire."

As well as downloading Power Track, SSEN customers can access extra support during faults via SSEN's Priority Services Register (PSR). Customers can join if they:

  • Are dependent on electricity for home medical care, for example a kidney dialysis machine or ventilator
  • Have a chronic illness or short term medical condition; for example you are recovering from a major operation
  • Are disabled
  • Have special communication needs; for example because you are blind, partially sighted, deaf or hard of hearing
  • Have children under 5
  • Are over 60 years old

To find out more about SSEN's Priority Services Register, please go to the PSR page on our website - https://www.ssen.co.uk/PriorityServices/.