Ofgem Launches Review Into Energy Network Companies’ Response to Storm Arwen

The UK’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) has launched a reappraisal connected Friday into the effect to Storm Arwen arsenic much than 10 1000 person been near without powerfulness for a week.

The vigor regulator said the reappraisal will focus connected the relation of the web companies successful maintaining the resilience of the strategy and their exigency response, including their communications with customers.

It added that web companies person agreed to region a £700 ($926) headdress connected compensation, allowing customers to assertion compensation for much than 6.5 days.

Customers tin get £70 ($92.6) compensation for the archetypal 48 hours of the blackout, and £70 for each 12 hours thereafter.

Ofgem said portion web companies person “faced challenging conditions” and restored powerfulness to astir a cardinal people, 10,500 radical are inactive without powerfulness successful immoderate parts of Scotland and the North of England.

Jim and Belinda Muir, who unrecorded astatine Honeyneuk Farm, Maud, Aberdeenshire, person been without powerfulness for implicit a week connected Dec.3, 2021. (Jane Barlow/PA)

The regulator said it would “establish the facts” and pursue further enforcement enactment if necessary.

Peter Bingham, main technologist astatine Ofgem, said the squad is accessing the concern on-site successful the hardest-hit areas of Scotland and the North of England “to spot for ourselves the tremendous situation web companies person had.”

“We are talking to affected customers successful these areas arsenic good arsenic our colleagues successful the manufacture to get an close representation of whether determination are lessons to beryllium learnt from the effect to this tempest that we tin usage to amended enactment fixed to consumers successful the future,” helium said.

Ofgem’s Chief Executive Jonathan Brearley said “The implicit precedence remains getting radical backmost connected powerfulness arsenic rapidly arsenic possible.”

“We person strict rules connected however web companies request to run successful these circumstances, and we volition instrumentality enactment if needed,” helium said, besides adding that the reappraisal is launched to larn lessons to amended user enactment successful the future.

Around 130 troops person been sent to transportation retired door-to-door checks and connection payment enactment successful the northeast of Scotland, wherever astir 1,600 Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) customers remained off-supply astatine 10 a.m. connected Friday.

South of the border, Durham County Council said astir 100 servicemen and women volition beryllium based successful Weardale to assistance section people.

A large incidental has besides been declared successful Northumberland arsenic a effect of the weather, with Daljit Lally, the main enforcement of Northumberland County Council, calling for much enactment for the exigency services to assistance residents.

Details of what further enactment volition beryllium disposable is owed to beryllium discussed later.

PA contributed to this report.