by Pamela Harvey
Customer Relationship Manager, SSEN Distribution
My role as Customer Relationship Manager for SSEN Distribution's Highlands and Islands region is very people-focussed, which is one of the reasons I enjoy it so much.
We invest millions of pounds every year to make sure our network is in the best possible condition to power our communities - but we also realise that there’s times - especially during storms - when the power may go off for a prolonged period. And that’s why a major part of my job sees me working with our communities here in the Highlands and Islands to boost their resilience and ability to cope when the power is off.
Over the course of a typical working week, you can catch me working in our busy Inverness Depot and I also spend a lot of time out and about across our region - meeting community councils or delivering presentations on a wide range of resilience topics .
Face-to-face engagement is so important
Getting out on the road and meeting with communities not only helps me share vital information on such topics as our free Priority Services, it also helps our longer-term resilience and welfare planning. Having lived and worked in the north of Scotland for many years, I’m very familiar with the challenges that we can face when the weather turns bad - but I also know just how resilient our communities can be, and this positive attitude is something I see time and time again when I’m out and about with my job.
Listening to feedback and suggestions from communities and tapping into their local knowledge is a huge help to us - for example, when we’re considering locations for the hot food and drinks vans we can deploy during a storm situation; in addition, these discussions can sometimes also open up the potential for us to work with a local community hub during a storm, to make sure customers can stay warm and fed when the power is off across the wider area.
Ensuring a Warm Welcome
An excellent example of SSEN’s commitment to community engagement is our partnership with the Warm Welcome Campaign - the charity aiming to bring connection, friendship, and human warmth, helping people feel less isolated and lonely and boosting wellbeing.
This partnership has been running across our two licence areas - the North of Scotland and central southern England - since last year. And so, to see first-hand the difference a Warm Welcome Space can make, I was delighted to meet the team at Lochaber Hope in Fort William recently.
Lochaber Hope was set up 20 years ago by Aly Smith as a meeting place that was open to all - the kind of place where you could come along for bit of warmth, a cuppa or just a chance to see another friendly face. And after all those years, it’s clear to see just how successful her mission has been - the day I visited went under the banner of “Soup’s Up!” and everyone I met was so friendly and keen to offer me a seat at their table. It was also the first time I’d ever tasted mince and tattie soup, which I have to say was a revelation.
You can see from the video further up this page just how popular the Lochaber Hope venue is. And experiencing this amazing community spirt firsthand prompted me to discuss incorporating Lochaber Hope into our longer-term resilience planning with Aly. While the plans are still at a very early stage, Aly was really keen to develop the idea further, so that during a storm situation in the future, Lochaber Hope’s premises in central Fort William could be getting used as a resilience hub to provide hot food and drinks for the community if the power is off.
I travelled back to Inverness from Fort William that day feeling very positive - the people I met were so friendly and genuine, and it was great to see such a warm and welcoming community spirit. And the next time I go I’ll definitely be asking for the recipe for their mince and tattie soup!
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