Sunday 9 February, 6.30pm update

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has restored power to over 65,000 homes as it continues to respond to the impact of Storm Ciara in its central southern England region.

Storm force winds have today impacted much of the country, with central southern England experiencing wind gusts in excess of 75mph accompanied by heavy rain. The extreme weather conditions have led to incidents of trees being uprooted, and other wind-borne debris damaging overhead power lines. Since the 2pm update, wind speeds have picked up across SSEN's central southern England region with a significant number of new and additional network faults in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire.

As of 6.30pm, SSEN has successfully restored power to over 65,000 customers in central Southern England. Around 11,000 properties are currently off supply.

An 800-strong SSEN team continue to work hard to restore power to customers and the vast majority of supplies will be reconnected this evening. However, based on the volume of new and additional faults, it is unavoidable that some customers, particularly in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire, will be restored through the course of tomorrow morning.

SSEN will endeavour to proactively contact these customers and is providing welfare facilities where possible, including the offer of hot food and drink. Over 60 Customer and Community Advisors and volunteers are visiting customers and SSEN remains in close contact with its local resilience partners on welfare provision.

The next update will be provided at 11pm.

Stuart Hogarth, Director of Customer Operations at SSEN, said:

"Storm Ciara was forecast to be the most significant weather event to impact the south of England for a number of years and this has proven to be the case. Our 800-strong team continues to make good progress in restoring power to customers impacted, but strengthening winds at the 'tail' of the storm have resulted in a significant number of additional network faults.

"We would like to reassure our customers that we are working to restore power to the majority of homes this evening but, given the extent of network damage, some properties will be restored through the course of tomorrow morning. We are prioritising restoration based on the length of interruption and are contacting customers who will be without power overnight to offer welfare facilities and additional support. If you, or someone you know, is in a vulnerable situation, please contact us on the power cut helpline, 105.

"I would also urge members of the public not to approach any damage to our equipment and instead, report it either by calling 105 or via our Power Track App and our teams will investigate as soon as possible."

In preparation for Storm Ciara, SSEN enacted its well-established resilience plans, increasing its resources in anticipation of potential damage to its network and moved teams of engineers and equipment to the areas expected to be impacted.

  • Over 800 field and support staff are ready to respond promptly to any damage to SSEN's network in central southern England.
  • Mobile generation sets have been placed across SSEN's network areas to assist with restoration efforts.
  • Over 200 contact centre employees are available to respond promptly to customer enquiries.
  • SSEN's teams have proactively contacted over 600,000 customers on the Priority Services Register to provide updates and offer extra support where required.
  • Welfare facilities are on standby to support customers affected by potential prolonged disruption to supplies.
  • SSEN continues to liaise with local resilience partners to help coordinate welfare support for customers.

For more information on SSEN's Priority Services Register, please click here or call 0800 294 3259.