We're making good progress reconnecting customers after Storm Floris

We're making continued progress to reconnect customers who lost electricity supplies because of damage caused by Storm Floris’ severe, sustained winds.

As of 5:30pm on Tuesday afternoon, power has now been restored to more than 60,000 customers. Work is ongoing to reconnect a further 11,400 properties and support customers who are still without power.

An 800-strong team is leading our broad-based response to Storm Floris:

• More than 500 of our own engineers and field staff – including teams who have travelled up from our south of England network region – are being supported by almost 200 people from contract partners and other network operators.
• Nearly 100 call handlers and social media staff – four times usual staffing levels – are on duty in the Customer Contact Centre to answer queries. More than 13,000 calls have been taken since the storm began; on average these have been answered in around 90 seconds.
• Dozens of additional staff are co-ordinating and delivering a comprehensive welfare operation, arranging for the provision of hot meals and overseeing house calls in communities awaiting reconnection.

A damaging summer storm

Today’s relatively calm weather has allowed our field team to conduct a full assessment of the network, and the damage that’s been done by the storm. This has been carried out by walking hundreds of kilometres of network at ground level, and also with the aid of two helicopters which have been conducting extensive inspections from above.

The damage to the network has been considerable; we invest around £100m every year in the north of Scotland to renew and reinforce the network, but sustained winds like those witnessed on Monday have had an impact. At the height of summer, trees are in full leaf, making them heavier, and more susceptible to blowing over in storm-force gusts.

Complex repairs will be needed at multiple points on the network, and fallen trees are causing access challenges, which are being overcome with the help of an enlarged specialist tree-cutting team. Customers whose restoration is dependent on these complex repairs being completed are being given realistic, accurate estimates for reconnection via the PowerTrack website and app. These estimates are informed by detailed fault assessments and the time it is taking to complete each job safely.

Caring for our customers

Since 8:30pm this morning, we've been providing free hot meals in more than a dozen affected locations. Hot food vans are serving food a number of communities, while in other areas agreements have been made with local businesses to provide catering. The times and locations for these are subject to change, and details are being shared on our Facebook (Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks) and X (@ssencommunity) channels, and at a special webpage ssen.co.uk/stormsupport

As part of our storm support package, customers 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

Customers may have questions regarding compensation, which is governed by Guaranteed Standards of Service set by our regulator, Ofgem.

Storm Floris has been confirmed as a Category 2 Severe Weather Event which means customers without power for more than 48 hours continuously, will receive a Guaranteed Standards payment of £85.00 and a subsequent payment of £45.00 for each continuous 6 hour period that they did not have power thereafter.

Guaranteed Standards payments are issued automatically and customers do not need to make a claim or contact SSEN to receive this. Let your customer know our priority at this time is reconnecting the customers who are still off supply, quickly and safely.

Letters will be sent out to customers eligible for Guaranteed Standard payments separately to the cheques, this will advise them that a cheque is on its way and will include their fault information and how much they are receiving. 

Meanwhile, a dedicated team is providing extra support for the most vulnerable customers on SSEN’s Priority Services Register, to keep them updated on work to restore supplies and offer additional advice. 

SSEN’s Director of Customer Operations for the north of Scotland, Andy Smith, says:

“Storm Floris has been unusually powerful, especially for a storm at this time of year. It’s brought down many trees that have endured several previous storms, and it’s caused some network damage.

“Today, we’ve been able to inspect the network from the air and from the ground, and we now have a complete picture of the extent of the damage. There’s a considerable ongoing task to restore all customers’ supplies, but we have an 800-strong team whose priority is to make repairs as safely and quickly as they can, keep customers updated, and support those awaiting reconnection.

“I’d like to thank our customers for their understanding and patience while we go about this massive task; we’re doing our best to give people realistic, informed estimates of when we’ll get their power back on. I’m also grateful to the teams from our contract partners and other network operators for supporting our effort.”

Further help and advice for customers 

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.