Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks has this morning returned to business as usual for its central southern England electricity network.
Storm Ciara's impact resulted in engineers restoring power to 90,000 affected customers and wind gusts in excess of 75mph were recorded in central southern England as the storm tracked across the region on Sunday. An extended period of high winds yesterday saw SSEN teams continue to work in challenging conditions to restore customer supplies.
Based on current forecasts, which show further high winds later this week and into the weekend, SSEN remains at weather alert, with its teams ready to respond to any disruption.
Stuart Hogarth, Director of Customer Operations, said:
"The conditions that came with Storm Ciara were the worst that we have seen in a number of years, making the task of restoring supplies extremely challenging and I'd like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as our teams worked to get their power back on as safely and as quickly as possible. I'd also like to thank our welfare and resilience partners for their support in making sure our customers were well looked after during this event.
"And I thank our teams on the ground who are continuing to work on repairs to the damage caused by Storm Ciara, while we are continuing to keep an eye on further weather forecasts. I'd like to reassure our customers that we are prepared and ready to respond to any further disruption.
"If any of our customers or stakeholders are concerned about the potential disruption to supplies, particularly those who may need extra support during a power cut, I would encourage them to call us on 105 where our dedicated teams are available to help."