We're working to restore power supplies affected by Storm Floris in the north of Scotland

As the Distribution Network Operator for the north of Scotland, we're responding to damage on our network which has been caused by Storm Floris’ extremely high winds. As of 2.15pm this afternoon, power has been restored to 5,500 customers. Work is ongoing to reconnect a further 22,500 properties, with particular impact being seen in the Highlands, Moray, and in Aberdeenshire. These ongoing severe winds mean more properties will be affected later today.

Hundreds of additional team members are working across the north of Scotland to reconnect customers, and to support those who’ve lost power. This sustained and ongoing storm means it may not be possible to reconnect all customers who’ve lost supplies by the end of today. The disruption to transport links caused by the ongoing adverse weather is also having an impact on the ability of our teams to get to some faults in more remote areas.

👷 How we’re responding

Over the weekend, we drafted in additional teams to further bolster our response prior to this storm arriving. Hundreds of extra people have been mobilised, including multiple teams from our southern England network region. Additional colleagues have been deployed to help customers in the following ways:   

• Extra network engineers are in the control room, to remotely reroute the network around faults. In many cases, this can be done quickly, meaning briefer disruption to supplies. A dedicated control room team will be working right through the night to reconfigure the network and remotely reconnect customers wherever possible.
  
• More field engineers are in place across the network; they’re fixing faults as quickly as possible, once it’s safe to do so.   
  
  
• Our team in the customer contact centre has been bolstered, to handle an increase in the number of calls from customers, and to respond to messages sent via social media.
  
  
• Additional tree-cutting teams are helping engineers get to faults on the network. These high winds mean that trees – which are currently in full leaf – are at greater risk. This has the potential to cause access issues, not only for us, but other critical services too.
  
  
• Text messages were already sent to over 100,000 of our more vulnerable customers on Saturday, giving them help and advice on how to prepare if they lose power. In addition, individual telephone calls were made on Sunday to the most vulnerable people in those areas expected to be worst hit, with offers of further, tailored support.

💨 Monday's weather 

A deep area of low pressure is slowly moving across much of Scotland. Argyll, the Highlands, the Western Isles, Perthshire, Angus, Moray and Aberdeenshire are experiencing the strongest winds, and gusts in exposed areas of up to 100mph are possible. Aberdeenshire and the Moray coast are likely to experience sustained storm-force winds for the rest of tonight and into the early hours of Tuesday.

A Met Office Amber Weather Warning for Wind remains in place until 2300 today for most of Scotland, and a lesser Yellow Wind Warning for the whole of the country is currently in place until the end of tonight.  A separate Yellow Wind Warning for Orkney and Shetland begins at midnight, running through to 0800 tomorrow.

🤝 Supporting our customers

As part of our support package, customers who will be without power for more than 12 hours are entitled to £30 per person for every day without power, to cover the cost of food and drink. People should keep hold of their receipts and claim costs back at www.ssen.co.uk/stormclaim. 

In addition, customers on our Priority Service Register can claim reasonable costs for alternative accommodation if they’re without power for over 24 hours. Support with booking accommodation can be provided if needed. If a power cut is estimated to last beyond 48 hours, all customers can benefit from this support. Customers can claim this in the same way as food and drink.

Our Director of Customer Operations for the north of Scotland, Andy Smith, says: 

“Storm Floris is the strongest summer storm we’ve seen in a very long time, and it’s causing significant disruption to power supplies today.

“At the height of summer, we’ve mounted an operation that’s comparable in size to the ones we mobilise when a storm hits during the depths of winter, but the sustained nature of these damaging winds means some affected customers may be without power overnight.

“I’d like to thank customers for their patience today, and I want to reassure our customers that we’ve got hundreds of additional team members working to get people reconnected. As soon as it’s been safe to do so, they’ve quickly set about repairing network damage.

“Remember - you can report faults to us by calling 105 at any time, or via the Power Track website or app. And please – if you come across any network damage, stay well back and inform us immediately.” 

📞 Help and advice

If you see any damage to our equipment, please stay back, don’t touch it and instead report it to us directly by calling 105, or via our Power Track website, and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.

Customers are also being encouraged to be prepared for the possibility of disruption to supplies by:

• Saving the emergency power cut number - '105' - to your phone to report any loss of supply or damage to the electricity network
• Visiting our Power Track Website to give you details of power cuts and restoration times. You can also report power cuts and network damage through Power Track.
• Visiting the "Preparing for a power cut" section on our website, where there is a wealth of advice and information, or to chat live to one of our advisors via the Webchat service

Customers are also eligible for our Priority Services Register (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/aids reliant on electricity
• Are over 60.

To find out more about the PSR, click here or call 0800 294 3259.