SSEN Distribution’s New Year campaign highlights thousands of customers missing out on free support during power cuts

SSEN wants more of its customers to sign up to its Priority Service Register (PSR) and is highlighting the thousands of people missing out on free support.

The register provides SSEN with details of customers who qualify for extra support in the event of a power outage. During the recent Storm Henk, these customers received extra assistance – including proactive, reassurance calls – which was tailored to their individual needs while engineers worked to restore their power supplies.

SSEN’s own data suggests that little more than half of those eligible for the free assistance available are currently signed up to the PSR, meaning that thousands of customers could be missing out on additional support.

While this number is increasingly steadily, reflecting SSEN’s proactive work to engage with people in groups who would benefit from being the help and support that’s available, the Network Operator is now launching a New Year campaign to make many more people aware of how to sign up for the PSR and the benefits which come from doing so.

With over 3.1 million customers across SSEN’s central southern England distribution area, there are over 710,100 customers signed up to the PSR, but SSEN is keen to encourage more residents who are eligible to sign up for the free service.

People are eligible to be on the Priority Services Register (PSR) if they are in the following groups:

• Are aged over 60.
• Live with children under five.
• Have a disability.
• Have a chronic illness.
• Are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Are blind or partially-sighted.
• Use medical equipment or aids which are reliant on electricity.

The level of support available to people who have signed up depends on their circumstances and the severity of the condition they are living with – the assistance SSEN can provide is then assessed on a case-by-case basis and can be escalated according to the situation. But everyone who is on the register is eligible for the following support during the rare occurrences when the power supply is lost temporarily:

• A dedicated 24-hour priority services phone number.
• Priority updates during a power cut.
• The option of nominating someone for SSEN to contact on their behalf.
• Information in the format most suited, for example Braille or audio CD.
• A security password to keep everyone safe.

SSEN Distribution’s Customer Vulnerability and Communities Lead, Emma Merritt said:

“It’s become clear to us, through SSEN’s latest data research, that there are many more people across Ridgeway who could benefit from the free, additional support we provide through the Priority Services Register (PSR) and I’d encourage everyone to take a few minutes to think about how they’d manage if the power was to go off unexpectedly, then to get in touch with us if they think they’d need a bit of extra assistance.

“Being part SSEN’s PSR can offer our customers the extra peace of mind that comes with knowing help is out there on the rare occasions there is a fault on our network, or if the risk of bad weather may cause damage to the electricity infrastructure and cause a power cut.  

Emma continued:

“For example, SSEN contacted nearly 20,000 PSR customers during Storm Henk; offering advice on their welfare and speaking to thousands of them to see if there was anything in particular that we could do to help individuals over the course of the bad weather.”

SSEN produces its Priority Services Register leaflets in 11 different languages, all of which are also available to read and download from the links below.

• Priority Services Leaflet
• Priority Services Leaflet (easy read)

For more information, please visit ssen.co.uk/priorityservices or call freephone 0800 294 3259 to find out how you, a family member or friend could benefit from free support during a power cut.