Storm Boelo - Monday 26 October - 1pm update

We are continuing with our determined response to Storm Boelo, with our teams continuing a major restoration effort across the north of Scotland today, with power now restored to over two thirds of customers affected.  

Following the widespread network damage caused by Storm Boelo’s gale-force winds across the north of Scotland, our focus today is firmly on progressing reconnections for those customers who remain without power.  

As of 10.30 this morning, more than 76,000 customers have had their electricity restored with work ongoing to reconnect the remaining 22,000 without power. Our teams have been out from first light, assessing damage, carrying out repairs and working through faults as quickly and safely as conditions allow.

The storm has caused significant and widespread damage to the electricity network. In some locations, fallen trees, flooding and difficult access have added to the challenge of reaching and repairing faults. These conditions are impacting access to parts of the network, with hundreds of additional team members supporting the response. 

At the same time, we are closely monitoring the next period of unsettled weather impacting the North of Scotland from the early hours of Tuesday and throughout the day, and positioning teams and resources so we can continue the restoration effort where we are safely able to, while being ready to respond to any further impact on the network. 

Our response in more detail 

Hundreds of additional team members remain involved in our response across the north of Scotland. 

With the worst of Storm Boelo now passed, our restoration effort is increasingly focused on the individual faults and more complex network damage that remains. 

Today our teams are: 

• Inspecting and assessing damage across the network to identify the repairs needed to safely restore customers. 

• Clearing fallen trees and debris, with specialist tree-cutting teams helping engineers gain safe access to damaged equipment. 

• Repairing and replacing damaged equipment, including faults caused by the severe winds and fallen trees. 

• Rerouting power remotely where possible, with additional engineers in our Control Room working to restore customers without the need for physical repairs. 

• Deploying engineering teams across affected communities, prioritising work that will restore supplies to the greatest number of customers while progressing more complex individual faults in parallel. 

• Continuing our welfare operation, supporting communities and customers who have been without power for an extended period. 

• Proactively contacting our most vulnerable customers, alongside additional staffing in our Customer Contact Centre to support people who need help. 

 We know that behind every fault is a customer, family or business waiting for their power to come back on. Our teams are working across the affected areas today and will continue doing everything they can to restore supplies as quickly as possible. 

If you or a loved one has any particular vulnerabilities about which you would like to discuss additional support, please contact staff at on 0800 294 3259.

Nik Wheeler, Head of Customer Operations - SHEPD at SSEN said: 

“We’ve now restored power to more than two thirds of customers impacted by Storm Boelo, and our focus today is firmly on reconnecting as many customers as possible who remain without supply.

"Our teams have been out from first light, assessing damage, carrying out repairs and working through faults as quickly and safely as conditions allow. 

"We know how difficult it is to be without power and we’re doing everything we can to restore supplies to the remaining 22,000 customers. We thank customers for their patience while our teams work as quickly and safely as possible to reconnect everyone." 

Supporting our customers 

As part of our 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. In addition, customers registered for our Priority Services can claim reasonable costs for alternative accommodation if they’re without power for more than 24 hours.  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. 

 📞 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 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.

Find out more about Priority Services or call 0800 294 3259.