Storm Arwen Blacks Out Scotland

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The United Kingdom’s Meteorological Office has officially named the first severe storm of the winter of 2021/22:

As you can see from the forecast above, very strong winds are forecast to hit the north east coast of Scotland later today, which will inevitably lead to a large number of power cuts.

The UK Met Office has now also issued a red weather warning for Storm Arwen:

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1464187971230482443

[Edit – November 26th 22:00]

High winds speeds in Scotland have been expected, but the coast of South Devon has also been subject to gusts over 60 mph:

Here’s the latest power cut map for the north of Scotland from Scottish and Southern Electricity, showing a total of 201 “unplanned outages”:

and here is Scottish Power’s map for further south:

[Edit – November 27th 09:45]

Not content with blacking out the east coast of Scotland, Storm Arwen moved on into North East England:

Meanwhile back up in Scotland SSEN’s map now shows 312 unplanned outages:

Overnight wind gusts in Northumberland reached 98 mph, and even South Devon reached 92 mph:

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/1464581489572696066

Here is Western Power Distribution’s current power cut information for down here in the West Country:

There is even a power cut affecting our local substation, although our premises are not affected at the moment:

According to Western Power Distribution’s latest storm update:

Currently, a total of 60,000 properties are without power, but we have already been able to successfully and safely restore 300,000 homes and businesses.

Graham Halladay, Operations Director, said “North westerly wind speeds of up to 65mph and a combination of rain and snow have made conditions difficult and has led to power cuts across our region, but we can assure you that we are working very hard to restore power supplies quickly and safely. I’d like to thank customers for their patience and understanding as we work to support them at this challenging time. I’d also like to thank our staff who have already restored a huge number of supplies and been supporting our customers and vulnerable customers.

According to Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks’ latest Storm Arwen Red Alert http://news.ssen.co.uk/news/all-articles/2021/november/storm-arwen-red-alert/

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) remains at red alert status for its north of Scotland area following the impact of Storm Arwen, which brought widespread disruption to much of the country.

Sustained wind speeds of over 70mph were recorded across the north of Scotland from early afternoon yesterday, with gusts in excess of 90mph observed alongside significant rainfall, with wind speeds only starting to subside from the early hours of this morning. The impact of Storm Arwen has resulted in significant damage to SSEN’s electricity network due to fallen trees, branches, and other wind-blown debris striking network infrastructure.

As of 09:30 this morning, SSEN has experienced over 300 high voltage faults and its operational teams have successfully restored power to over 40,000 customers in extremely challenging conditions. Around 75,000 customers current remain off supply, with the main areas affected being Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and the Moray Coast.

SSEN’s teams have been out since first light this morning to fully assess the extent of damage to its network and progress the restoration of customer supplies, with helicopter patrols to monitor the network for damage.

Multiple incidents of damage to network infrastructure are expected in the areas worst affected by yesterday’s storm, which will prolong restoration times for affected customers. Access to faults continues to prove very difficult due to fallen trees, closed roads and the aftermath of yesterday’s challenging weather conditions.

Welfare facilities are being deployed to key areas affected to offer customers hot food and drinks whilst they remain off supply.

  • Aberfeldy Village Hall
  • Carnoustie Leisure Centre
  • Cullen, Beach
  • Kintore, In the Square            
  • Mintlaw, MACBI Community Hub 
  • Tarland, In the Square           

Electricity North West don’t appear to have an outage map available on their web site, but their 7:30 AM Storm Arwen update had this to say:

Highs winds hit the region overnight which caused damage to the overhead electricity network, as well as falling trees blocking roads causing delays to engineers reaching equipment to make repairs.

The weather caused 69,000 properties to lose power overnight, with engineers having restored 37,600 by 7:30am Saturday morning. As repairs are made further damage and power cuts in other areas are expected due to the continuing high winds.

Wind speeds topped 60mph overnight made conditions unsafe for engineers to climb electricity poles to repair damage in many areas.
As well as continually monitoring the weather, Electricity North West was well prepared with more than 70 extra engineers on standby overnight ready to respond.

[Edit – November 28th 01:00]

Stop Press! We’ve just had a power cut of our own. It lasted perhaps 10 minutes, which it seems was how long it took WPD engineers, presumably using automation technology, to isolate the affected section. 18 other properties will have a longer wait though:

[Edit – November 28th 07:00]

It seems as though our little local power cut will take longer to repair than originally anticipated:

I might try and cycle over there later to see what the problem is. Meanwhile here’s the current WPD power cut map:

Zoomed in on Cornwall:

Plus the regional totals of current outages:

[Edit – November 29th 10:00]

Here’s a roundup of this morning’s post Storm Arwen power cut maps:

Further south and west the recovery from Storm Arwen seems largely complete, but unfortunately that doesn’t apply to the Midlands just yet. Here’s the current power cut maps from WPD:

and the southern section of SSEN:

[Edit – November 30th 9:30]

Here’s a roundup of Tuesday morning’s post Storm Arwen power cut maps:

Evidently there is still a long way to go before every property that suffered an outage during the passage of Storm Arwen has power safely restored.

[Edit – December 1st 10:00]

Here’s a roundup of Wednesday morning’s post Storm Arwen power cut maps. WPD and the southern area of SSEN are now back to pre storm levels of power outages:

[Edit – December 2nd 12:00]

Here’s a roundup of Thursday morning’s post Storm Arwen power cut maps

[Edit – December 3rd]

It’s been a busy day today, so somewhat belatedly here is Friday’s roundup of post Storm Arwen power cut maps:

[Edit – December 4th]

Here is Saturday lunchtime’s roundup of post Storm Arwen power cut maps:

As if all that wasn’t enough to deal with one week after Storm Arwen, more strong winds are currently forecast across the west of the United Kingdom during next week:

Yesterday Ofgem announced that:

It is launching a review into the impact of Storm Arwen. This will focus on the role of the network companies in maintaining the resilience of the system and their emergency response, including their communications with customers.

Recognising that network companies across Britain have faced challenging conditions to restore power and have done so to almost a million people, 10,500 people are still without power in some parts of Scotland and the North of England. As part of this review, Ofgem will establish the facts and, if necessary, will pursue further enforcement action. The full terms of reference will be available Monday 6 December.
Ofgem has engineers on site to meet with the network companies and talk to local customers. Although most are back on power, Ofgem will be looking carefully at the response to the storm to see if there are any lessons to be learnt by network companies.

The limit on the amount of compensation available to those affected by Storm Arwen has also been removed which means that the customers most affected could receive up to £140 a day for each day they’re off power until power is restored.

The network companies are working with British Red Cross and local resilience forums to provide extra help and support. Welfare centres have been set up in some of the worst hit areas, providing hot food and respite. Tens of thousands of hot meals have been distributed across the impacted areas and dedicated teams are contacting vulnerable customers to offer support.

Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem’s Chief Executive said:
“We understand this is a really worrying time for people who are without heat and power as the severity of Storm Arwen has hit homes and businesses in the North of England and Scotland. The effects of Storm Arwen are still being felt with 10,500 homes still without power…

[Edit – December 5th]

Here is Sunday lunchtime’s roundup of post Storm Arwen power cut maps. UKPN have one underground fault remaining that was first logged in November. Meanwhile further north four DNOs still have unrepaired faults dating back to the passage of Storm Arwen:

Meanwhile as predicted above Storm Barra has been officially named by
Met Éireann. Here is the latest high wind warning from the Met Office:

[Edit – December 6th]

Here Monday’s roundup of post Storm Arwen power cut maps. All UK distribution network operators have fixed (almost) all of the power cuts caused by the passage of Storm Arwen 10 days ago, apart from Northern Powergrid:

Meanwhile the UK Met Office have extended their high wind warning from Storm Barra into Wednesday:

After all that mayhem, do you suppose that our recent suggestion to Boris Johnson could have helped?

Also insist on… “bi-directional” V2H support for the “Hundreds of thousands of extra charge points in the pipeline”.

65 thoughts on “Storm Arwen Blacks Out Scotland”

  2. The latest power cut map from WPD:

    Plus the 5 PM Storm Arwen update:

    We have been able to restore 216,500 properties, however there are currently 44,000 without power.

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  3. Here’s an extract from SSEN’s 3 PM “Red Alert”:

    Teams from SSEN, supported by helicopter patrols, have been out since first light this morning as they continue to assess the significant damage caused by fallen trees, branches, and other wind-blown debris striking network infrastructure. Access to faults continues to be challenging due to fallen trees, closed roads and the aftermath of yesterday’s weather conditions.

    SSEN’s teams are prioritising faults which will restore as many customers as possible, as well as faults affecting key sites and vulnerable customers on SSEN’s Priority Services Register.

    Progress has been made assessing the damage and carrying out repairs, with power restored to 55,000 customers as at 3:00pm today. 60,000 customers currently remain off supply. The main areas that continue to be affected are the following towns, villages and surrounding areas:

    Aboyne, Ballater, Braemar, Strathdon, Kemnay, Boddam, Hatton, Marnoch, Limehillocks, Elgin, Callander, Dalrulzion and St Fillans

    Due to the extent of damage caused on both the high voltage and low voltage networks, with multiple instances of damage in some places, a significant number of customers will remain off supply overnight. SSEN expects to have an overview of the likely areas affected later today and is working closely with local resilience partners to help coordinate its response by activating established resilience plans and provide support to customers affected.

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  4. In their 8 PM “Red Alert” SSEN state that:

    Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) remains at red alert status for its north of Scotland area following the impact of Storm Arwen.

    SSEN’s teams continue to prioritise faults which will restore as many customers as possible, as well as faults affecting key sites and support for Priority Services Register customers.

    Good progress has been made throughout the course of today, with power restored to 63,000 customers as at 8pm. 52,000 customers currently remain off supply.

    Due to the extent of damage caused on both the high voltage and low voltage networks, with multiple instances of damage on overhead circuits, as well as continued difficulty gaining access to some faults, a significant number of customers will remain off supply overnight.

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  5. In their 9:45 PM Storm Arwen update Northern Powergrid state that:

    Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, has restored power to 182,000 of around 240,000 customers whose power supplies have been affected by Storm Arwen.

    The network operator’s teams remain focused on working to safely restore power to the 58,000 customers still affected as soon as it can.

    While the storm has now passed through the region, the damage it has left behind is still there to repair. Northern Powergrid is currently responding to the remaining 700 of around 900 instances of damage.

    Engineers are continuing to restore customers by switching electricity supplies, where possible, through alternative routes on its network and is ready to commence with repairs at first light.

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  6. In their 10:30 PM Storm Arwen update ENWL state that:

    Electricity North West is prioritising repairs to restore power to the most customers as quickly as possible as it continues to respond to devastating damage to the power network from Storm Arwen.

    Incident Manager, Clive Wilkinson said: “Every property we’re restoring power to now as part of this heroic effort by our engineers is hard won. We’ve had more than 300 separate faults on the network since Friday when usually we get five or six a day. We still have around 150 separate faults to go, each of which need specialist engineering teams to attend to make complex repairs ranging from broken poles to trees on lines and restringing conductors.

    “Because the wind was so widespread the sites of damage are miles apart, often in exposed and difficult-to-access areas from Carlisle in Cumbria to Buxton in Derbyshire with trees and sometimes snow blocking access roads.”

    80,000 customers have been without power at some stage since Friday, with engineers having restored power to more than 63,000 properties so far. It is also dealing with unprecedented numbers of calls from customers trying to get through on its emergency number for updates.

    Clive Wilkinson added: “In the past few hours we’ve had more than 33,000 calls from customers. We’re doing all we can to prioritise the calls so we can respond to the most critical issues. We’re working closely with our partners in the emergency services and local authorities as we manage this major incident while we focus on restoring power.”

    “We’ve brought in extra engineers from across the country to help the massive repair effort, and our main message to customers is that if you see any damaged equipment or lines on the ground, please stay well back and get in touch with us so we can prioritise the repairs.”

    As far as I can ascertain Scottish Power have yet to issue a news release summarising the number of outages/restorations on their network.

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  7. In their 9AM Storm Arwen update on Sunday ENWL report that:

    Electricity North West is continuing to prioritise repairs to restore power to the most customers as quickly as possible as engineers are still responding to devastating power network damage caused by Storm Arwen.

    Since Friday evening, the power network operator has seen more than 600 incidents on the network which has caused 83,000 properties to be without power at some point.

    Engineers have now restored power to more than 67,000 properties and the power network operator has drafted in even more additional resources today to help repair the severe damage.

    Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s Incident Manager and Customer Director, said: “Our teams have worked tirelessly across the region restoring power to our customers.

    “Storm Arwen is one of the worst wind storms the North West has seen in years. The damage has been devastating not only to the power network, but many roads have also been blocked because of fallen debris and snow.

    “We’ve drafted in even more resources today and we’re working to restore power to all of our customers as quickly and as safely as possible.”

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  8. In their 1 PM Storm Arwen update on Sunday WPD report that:

    Our teams continue to work hard on repairs to restore power and to support customers whose electricity supplies have been affected by the snow and wind. Where it is safe to do so, we are using our helicopters to help identify and assess damage as quickly as possible.

    We are sorry for how long it is taking to restore supplies. High winds and snow can both bring down trees. Our engineers are finding complex faults from weather damage, which are extremely labour intensive to resolve, meaning repairs are taking longer. We are also being hampered by snow drifts in parts of the Midlands, which is making getting to faults difficult.

    We have been able to restore more than 285,000 properties, however there are currently 15,500 without power. Customers who are on our Priority Services Register are being given additional support.

    Graham Halladay, Operations Director, said: “I’d like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding. I promise that while properties remain without power, we will continue working to restore supplies as quickly as safely possible.

    “I’d also like to thank our staff for their unwavering efforts to restore power to our customers and to give them help and support via our communication tools.

    “I would urge anyone who notices damage to our equipment or spots electricity poles or power lines that are down, to please stay clear of them, keep others away while remaining safe yourself and call 105 immediately.”

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  9. SPEN have released this video update on the condition of their network following Storm Arwen via Twitter:

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  10. In their latest Storm Arwen update Northern Powergrid state that:

    Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, has restored power to around 200,000 of 240,000 customers whose power supplies have been affected by Storm Arwen.

    From first light Northern Powergrid’s teams continued work on the huge task of repairing the damage left in the wake of the storm and identifying further points of damage that will need to be repaired. All resources available are deployed, including contractors, and the network operator, as part of an industry mutual aid agreement, has also secured additional teams from other UK network operators to bolster its response and assist with the complex permanent repairs needed following the impact of the storm.

    With more than 700 (of 1,100) incidents still to address, there is a huge amount of work to be completed. Many of the faults will require intensive work and are localised with smaller numbers of customers associated, which means some customers will remain off supply for long periods as the network operator works through this programme. Northern Powergrid’s teams are identifying those at risk of being off supply for more than another 24 hours so customers can make alternative arrangements.

    Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s Major Incident Manager, said: “The storm was well forecasted and despite being prepared, Storm Arwen resulted in damage of a scale and intensity not seen for 15 years. Despite yesterday’s condition hampering our ability to travel and work at height, we did manage to restore power to 180,000 customers by various means available to us in day one of this event.

    “We’re sorry that some customers are still without power despite the huge effort by our colleagues. We understand the impact this has on peoples’ lives particularly at this time of year.

    “We worked into the night and did everything possible to restore as many supplies as we could. We have a lot of work still to do, but our dedicated teams will not stop until we complete all the work required.

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  11. In their 4 PM Storm Arwen update ENWL point out that:

    Electricity North West has restored power to 72,000 properties, but thousands could be off overnight following damage to the power network caused by Storm Arwen.

    Incident Manager, Clive Wilkinson said: “We know how tough this is for customers. Our engineers have been out in these conditions trying to work since Friday and are doing absolutely all they can.

    “We’re continuing to work with emergency services and local authorities and other partners to help people through this major incident and we’re working to get power back on as quickly and safely as possible.”

    Despite the engineering effort, the sheer volume of damage caused by the storm means that some properties will remain without power overnight.

    Clive Wilkinson added: “Nationally Storm Arwen had caused around a million customers to lose power at some point since Friday. In the North West we still have 16,000 off, but are continuing to work to get everyone back on.

    “We’ve cancelled all planned work Monday to Friday next week so we can focus on repairs. Customers have been very understanding so far as they know the massive impact that we are dealing with. We know it is difficult and we will get to you so please keep warm and keep checking on neighbours until we can restore power.

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  12. In their 5 PM Storm Arwen update WPD had this to say:

    Our teams have spent the day continuing to work hard on repairs to restore power and to support customers whose electricity supplies have been affected by Storm Arwen and subsequent snow.

    We are sorry for how long it is taking to restore supplies. We are doing everything we can to get power back on as quickly as we safely can. The additional snowfall we are experiencing is making working conditions challenging, particularly in parts of the Midlands. Snow, ice and fallen trees are making road conditions treacherous.

    Our engineers are finding multiple snapped poles and downed wires. These are complex faults, which are extremely labour intensive to resolve, meaning repairs are taking longer.

    So far today, we have restored supplies to more than 257,000 properties, however there are currently 5,500 without power. Customers who are on our Priority Services Register are being given additional support.

    Graham Halladay, Operations Director, said: “I promise that while properties remain without power, we will continue working to restore supplies as quickly as safely possible. I would like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding.

    “Our staff have been working since yesterday to restore power to thousands of homes and businesses and to support our customers when they need it. We have a highly trained and dedicated workforce and I would like to thank them for their efforts.”

    I would also like to thank the 3 man WPD repair crew that I spoke to near Trevivian earlier today on behalf of some of the residents of Davidstow Parish:

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  13. In their 8:30 PM Storm Arwen update ENWL report that:

    Electricity North West has made good progress in difficult and cold conditions today, restoring power to another 5,000 properties this afternoon taking the number restored since Friday to 77,000.

    11,000 remain without power with many expected to be off overnight.

    Steph Trubshaw, Incident Manager, said: “Speaking with our frontline teams and hearing what people are going through is driving us to continue our repairs to the network as quickly as possible. We still have more than 100 separate issues on the network spread over a vast area and we won’t stop until we have restored every last property.”

    Repairs to the network include removing trees from lines, and repairing broken lines and poles that have been damaged by flying debris and falling trees.

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  14. SPEN report via Twitter that:

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  15. In their latest Storm Arwen update Northern Powergrid point out that:

    Teams at Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, are set to work into the night as it continues to restore power to customers still affected as a result of Storm Arwen.

    The network operator has now restored power to around 208,000 of the 240,000 customers affected and is working to restore thousands more tonight.

    The scale of damage in some locations is so extensive that in some cases, large sections of overhead lines will need to be rebuilt in order to restore supplies. Where it can, Northern Powergrid is deploying temporary fixes that get customers back on supply whilst its teams coordinate the necessary permanent repairs to get the region’s power network back to full strength.

    Despite the mammoth efforts of its teams, there will still be many customers without power for another night. Throughout the day its customer service teams have been calling people who have been without power for a long time so customers could make informed choices about organising alternative arrangements, particularly with the current wintery conditions.

    Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s Major Incident Manager, said: “Intelligence from our helicopter inspections has illustrated the scale of impact on our network. The impact from Storm Arwen has been one of the worst we’ve experienced in the last 20 years.

    “Despite this we have restored more than 200,000 customers supplies and our dedicated teams will not stop until all customers are restored, and our network is returned to full strength.

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  16. In their 10:20 AM Storm Arwen update on Monday ENWL state that:

    Hundreds of engineers will be working on the region’s power network as the North West still reels from the effects of Storm Arwen.

    Electricity North West has deployed engineers across Cumbria, Lancashire and the Peak to tackle the severe damage caused by the worst storm the North West has seen since 2015.

    Treacherous conditions including strong winds and heavy snow has seen more than 600 separate incidents of damage on the power network leading to 92,000 properties to be without power.

    Engineers have been able to restore power to 81,000 properties and today Electricity North West has also drafted in 16 additional overhead lines teams from the South East and Isle of Man.

    Stephanie Trubshaw, Customer Director and Incident Manager for Electricity North West, said: “The damage caused by Storm Arwen is some of the worst we have ever seen in the North West.

    “It’s extremely severe and widespread across the region and that is why we have drafted in further resources from across the country to help tackle the incidents.”

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  17. In their 11:30 AM Storm Arwen “Red Alert” on Monday SSEN report that:

    Throughout the night and into this morning, we have made progress in restoring power to around 9,500 customers, including the main network supply to the following locations:

    Killin in Perthshire, Alford and parts of Aboyne in Aberdeenshire

    Since the start of Storm Arwen at around lunchtime on Friday, power has been restored to 98,000 customers in total, with 24,000 customers currently off supply.

    Faults affecting the following locations are currently being worked on and our teams will continue to work into the evening to carry out repairs, subject to no new damage being identified or any unforeseen difficulties.

    • Aberdeenshire: Braemar, Ballater, Kintore, Fyvie, Rothienorman, New Deer, Dyce, Methlick, Tarland, Blackburn, Forgue, Hatton, Cuminestown, Dunecht, St. Cyrus and Fettercairn,
    • Moray: Duffus, Alvah, Deskford, Collieston, Boyndie, Dufftown
    • Angus: Maryton, Monikie and Edzell
    • Perthshire: Milnathort, Grange, Braco and Glencarse

    For all other locations that remain off supply and are not listed above, we do not expect power to be restored before tomorrow at the earliest. For localised faults, affecting single households and groups of houses, this will unfortunately extend beyond tomorrow and we are advising customers in this situation to consider alternative arrangements, if possible.

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  18. In their 1 PM Storm Arwen update on Monday WPD state that:

    285,000 homes and businesses have had power restored since the start of Storm Arwen, with most of our region operating as usual. Our focus now is to support the remaining 2,500 customers affected, most of which are based in the Stoke and Staffordshire area.

    As a result of the severe weather, particularly ice and strong winds, we have been dealing with a number of snapped poles and lines, many of which have been in remote areas, making access extremely difficult. Currently, access issues caused by snow drifts is particularly affecting areas in Northern Staffordshire such as Leek and Cauldon. Our helicopter unit of five helicopters will be patrolling the overhead line network today in those areas. This will help us to identify faults quickly and target exact locations.

    Fifty teams of linespeople will be working in the area today, with extra teams coming in to support the Stoke area to support our ongoing efforts and get the power back on as quickly as possible.

    For those customers who have been off supply for more than 24 hours, we are working towards restoring power by the end of today. Our priority is to resource as many incidents as possible and to repair the network.

    Stoke Distribution Manager Matt Griffiths said: “The local community has been fantastic throughout and we are extremely grateful for their support and patience during what has been, and continues to be, a very difficult time.”

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  19. Here’s an extract from Northern Powergrid’s 4 PM Storm Arwen update. Note in particular the last sentence where they point out that “Permanent repairs required are expected to continue until the end of this year.”

    Teams at Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the electricity distribution network across the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, have been working since first light as part of its major response to restore power to remaining customers still affected as a result of Storm Arwen.

    The network operator has now restored power to around 213,000 of the 240,000 customers affected and is working to restore thousands more today. It is aiming to have restoration of supplies on main high voltage lines complete in all regions except Northumberland and Tyne and Wear – which were the worst hit by the storm and the network has been significantly damaged. Low voltage network and single premises repairs will remain and will be completed as soon as is possible.

    The scale of damage in some locations mean some large sections of overhead lines – particularly in Northumberland, will need to be rebuilt. Northern Powergrid is also discovering additional work as supplies are restored, where damage points further down the electricity system would not be evident until the main system was restored.

    Where it can, Northern Powergrid is continuing to deploy temporary fixes that get customers back on supply whilst its teams coordinate the necessary permanent repairs to get the region’s power network back to full strength. Due to the scale of damage, the permanent repairs required are expected to continue until the end of this year.

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  20. Finally the end of the disruption due to Storm Arwen is in sight. For some areas of the UK at least! In their 5 PM update WPD state that:

    We’re pleased to confirm that all customers in the East Midlands, South West and South Wales whose power supplies were interrupted as a result of Storm Arwen have now had their power restored.

    There are some customers affected by power cuts in these areas but this is due to normal day-to-day fault activity.

    However, we are still experiencing access issues in North Staffordshire where heavy snowfall and significant snow drifts are creating challenging conditions for our teams. Fifty teams of linespeople have been working in the area today with additional teams coming in to support, including the help of our helicopter unit. Our priority is to get the power back on as quickly as possible.

    In all, we have restored power to more than 285,000 customers who lost power across our region over the weekend as a result of Storm Arwen. Only those customers in North Staffordshire are still experiencing problems.

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  21. In their 8:00 PM Storm Arwen update ENWL state that:

    Electricity North West has restored power to a further 1,700 properties in Cumbria today after deploying hundreds of additional engineers from other parts of the country to tackle the damage caused by Storm Arwen over the weekend.

    As well as additional resources to help restore power, Electricity North West is working with partners including Cumbria County Council and British Red Cross to supply residents with free hot food and drinks until power is fully restored across the region. This evening these are based in:

    Coniston Sports and Social Centre, Shepherds Bridge Lane, Coniston, LA21 8AL
    Nenthead – Lane S/O Wright Bros Coaches, Alston, CA9 3NP
    Ambleside, Waterhead Car Park – Lake Road, Ambleside, LA22 0ER
    Haverthwaite, Lakeland Motor Museum – Old Blue Mill, Backbarrow, Ulverston, LA12 8TA
    Cartmel Food Shed – The Causeway, Cartmel, Grange-over-sands, LA11 6PW

    Coniston Sports and Social Centre is also one of two support centres where people can go for warmth, access to a kitchen and to charge phones, the other is based at Ambleside Parish Centre.

    The treacherous conditions including strong winds and heavy snow has seen more than 700 separate incidents of damage on the power network leading to 93,000 properties to be without power across the North West. Engineers have been able to restore power to 83,000 properties so far.

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  22. In their 09:30 PM Storm Arwen “Red Alert” SSEN state that:

    Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) remains at red alert status for its north of Scotland electricity network as its teams continue to respond to widespread and extensive damage to its network caused by Storm Arwen.

    Throughout the course of the day, we have made progress in restoring power to over 7,000 customers, including the main network supply to the following locations:

    Braemar, Ballater (centre), Torphins (centre), Aboyne, Hatton, Tarland, Comrie, Fyvie

    Since the start of Storm Arwen at around lunchtime on Friday, power has been restored to over 103,000 customers in total, with 17,000 customers currently off supply. This includes customers in the following regions:

    Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: 9,700
    Moray: 3,500
    Angus: 1,600
    Perthshire: 1,700

    The majority of high voltage faults, connecting larger population centres, are currently being worked on and restoration is being progressed tonight and into tomorrow.

    For localised faults, affecting single households and groups of houses, we expect full restoration to follow and we are advising customers in this situation to consider alternative arrangements, if possible.

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  23. An overview of the damage caused by Storm Arwen from the Energy Networks Association:

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  24. In their 8:30 AM Storm Arwen update on Tuesday ENWL report that:

    Hundreds of Engineers from Electricity North West worked into the night carrying out vital repairs on a ‘decimated’ power network.

    Key strategic assets throughout the region were yesterday repaired as power has now been restored to more than 90,000 properties.

    Eight hundred separate incidents of damage have been reported with many engineers describing Storm Arwen as the worst they have ever seen as just short of 98,000 properties have been affected.

    Vital repair work will continue today as Electricity North West has drafted in even further resources from the South whilst the firm is still working with key partners throughout the region to help serve its vulnerable customers.

    Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s Incident Manager and Customer Director, said: “The aftermath of Storm Arwen is absolutely devastating, the damage is clearly some of the worst we have ever seen in the North West.

    “Yesterday, progress was made, key strategic assets in Cumbria and Lancashire were repaired meaning we were able to restore power to some customers.

    “Hundreds of engineers are continuing work today and we’re also coordinating a multi-agency response including blue light services, the NHS, local councils and other support bodies to assist those customers who need additional support.”

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  25. In their 9 AM update on Tuesday WPD report that:

    Our teams are continuing work to restore power to a few remaining customers in the Staffordshire Moorlands, following the weekend’s heavy snowfall. Extra teams are in the area to support our efforts which have been hampered by access issues, as a result of significant snow drifts. Our priority remains to get the power back on as quickly as possible.

    We are happy to confirm that, apart from these few outstanding incidents in North Staffordshire, the rest of our region is operating as normal.

    Since Storm Arwen hit, we have successfully restored power to more than 285,000 customers across the Midlands, the South West and South Wales.

    Once again, we would like to thank everyone in the communities affected for their understanding and support at this difficult time and our teams for their unwavering determination to do their very best for our customers, in some very challenging circumstances.

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  26. In their 10:30 AM Storm Arwen “Red Alert” on Tuesday SSEN point out that:

    As its teams work to reconnect the remaining homes still off supply, SSEN has enhanced its welfare support provisions, recognising the continued impact on affected customers.

    Further progress was achieved overnight, with an additional 2,000 customers reconnected, including the main network supply to the following locations:

    Boddam, Tarland, Hatton, Kincardine O’Neil, Kintore, Dinnet, Kinellar, Deanston, Dess, Kilry, Rothiemay
    Since the start of Storm Arwen at around lunchtime on Friday, power has been restored to over 105,000 customers in total, with 15,000 currently off supply. This includes customers in the following regions:

    Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: 8507
    Moray: 3125
    Angus: 1698
    Perthshire: 1183
    Stirling: 350

    The remaining high voltage faults (representing the lines that connect larger population centres), are being worked on throughout the day and good progress continues to be made. We are targeting the majority of these faults to be restored today.

    For localised faults, restoration times are likely to extend beyond today and customers are encouraged to explore alternative arrangements, where necessary.

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  27. Northern Powergrid’s Storm Arwen update at 12:30 PM on Tuesday states that:

    Northern Powergrid, the electricity distribution network operator for the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, has its teams, alongside more than 100 engineers from UK Power Networks, Northern Ireland Electricity and National Grid Transmission, continuing work today to get power back on for customers hit by Storm Arwen.

    The electricity distributor has restored power to 220,000 of the 240,000 homes and business impacted by the storm and has worked into the night and then from first light today with again more than 2,000 people supporting the response in the field and behind the scenes.

    Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s Major Incident Manager, said: “All of our teams are continuing to work extremely hard to restore power to our customers. We still have some work to do in the North and West Yorkshire areas, but the vast majority of our remaining work is now in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham areas.

    “We have some large sections of overhead line that will need to be rebuilt in order to return supplies back to normal. We have three helicopters in the sky today which continue to be invaluable in patrolling the long length of overhead line in order to locate the damage and coordinate repairs.

    “We have significant damage to extensive sections of overhead line in the Wear valley, around Eastgate and beyond that feeds around 2,000 homes and businesses that requires a major work or rebuild. We have set up a dedicated engineering resource and a front line customer welfare task force as well as coordinating with local authorities and community partners in the area to assist our response.

    “We fully understand and appreciate peoples’ growing frustrations and we are very sorry for the continued impact to our customers’ lives and we thank them for their continued patience and understanding.”

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  29. In their 3:20 PM Storm Arwen update ENWL point out that:

    Additional resources have been deployed across Cumbria as Electricity North West engineers continue to tackle the ‘devastating’ Storm Arwen damage.

    Power has now been restored to more than 95,500 properties across the region as repair work continues.

    Electricity North West is also continuing to work with key strategic partners to help supply residents with free hot food and drinks until power is fully restored. The following outlets will be at the below locations this evening:

    Ambleside
    Food van – located at Waterhead Car Park, Waterhead Car Park, Borrans Road, Windermere, LA22 0GS

    Alston
    Food van – Next to Wright’s Garage at Nenthead, Wright Bros Coaches, Nenthead, Alston CA9 3NP

    Old Hutton
    Food van – located at The Parish Church Car Park, St John’s View, Old Hutton LA8 0NQ

    Backbarrow
    Food van – located at Lakeland Motor Museum, Old Blue Mill, Backbarrow LA12 8TA

    Grange
    The Causeway, Cartmel, UK, LA11 6PW

    Community hubs have also been set up at Coniston Sports and Social Centre and Ambleside Parish Centre where people will be able to have hot food and drink, charge electric devices and have access to support officers for help and advice.

    Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s Customer Director and Incident Manager, said: “We know this is an extremely difficult time for customers and our teams are doing their utmost to restore power supplies as quickly as possible.

    “We are constantly working with various partners to support those without power and have worked together to creating community hubs and provide free food and drink for the residents of Cumbria.

    “We are also working closely with various MPs who are doing a great job in providing us information about new areas where we have been able to provide additional support for customers.”

    Eight hundred separate incidents of damage have been reported with many engineers describing Storm Arwen as the worst they have ever seen with just short of 105,000 properties affected.

    Electricity North West’s customer contact centre has also handled more than 60,000 calls and 6,000 outbound calls have been made to customers on the Priority Services Register.

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  30. An update from SPEN on Twitter:

    Reply ↓

  31. An update from Kwasi Kwarteng on Twitter. Note the final “tweet” in the thread which explains that compensation is available for those without electricity for over 2 days. See:

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/energy-advice-households/check-compensation-rules-power-cut-or-supply-problem

    Reply ↓

  32. The 8:15 PM Storm Arwen update from ENWL states that:

    Electricity North West has restored power to more than 101,000 properties after the widespread damage caused by Storm Arwen at the weekend.

    More than 800 separate incidents have been reported on the network, and caused more than 110,000 properties to lose power.

    Hundreds of engineers have been deployed to repair the network, with additional resource drafted in from the South of the country – with many describing the damage as the worst that they’ve ever seen.

    Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s Customer Director and Incident Manager, said: “We understand this is a difficult time for residents across the region who have been impacted and we’re doing all we can to try and repair the network as quickly as possible.

    “We’re mobilising hundreds of engineers from across the country each day to help us combat the devastating effect of the storm. We’ve been able to restore power to thousands of properties but as we’ve carried out the crucial repairs, more faults have been found because of the severe damage.”

    Customers who are without electricity are now able to view more accurate estimations of when the power will be restored to their homes on the network operator’s website.

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  33. Northern Powergrid had this to say in their 11:30 PM Storm Arwen update:

    Insight from frontline teams and aerial inspections by three helicopters today has continued to inform the company’s restoration response so that it can provide more detailed estimates for customers of when their supply will be restored after the storm devastated parts of its network.

    Northern Powergrid continues to make progress in reconnecting customers and communities in following the widespread and extensive damage. The electricity distributor has restored power to 224,000 of the 240,000 homes and businesses impacted by the storm and its teams will continue to work into the night and from first light tomorrow with more than 2,000 people supporting its response in the field and behind the scenes… Additional engineers from ESB Networks and Western Power Distribution joined Northern Powergrid teams to support restoration work.

    Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s Major Incident Manager, said: “Across our business we have suspended routine activities to support our storm response and have deployed over 100 people to contact our affected customers or help with welfare support in worst affected communities.

    “We have further bolstered our contact centre with support from other energy networks and we have added additional capacity to our website power cut checker to meet the increased demand.

    “In the field we have made good progress in all of our regions which means that tomorrow the vast majority of restoration work will be in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham. Our teams, contractors and additional engineers from other network operators, will continue to work into the night and restart tomorrow at first light.

    “We do understand and appreciate peoples’ growing frustrations and we are very sorry for the continued impact to our customers’ lives. We thank them for their patience and understanding.”

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  34. In their 12:00 Storm Arwen “Red Alert” on Wednesday SSEN suggest that:

    Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) is encouraging customers still without power to take up support with accommodation and meals as it makes progress in restoring customers affected by Storm Arwen.

    Progress with restoration

    Further progress in restoring power has been achieved throughout the night, with an additional 3,100 customers reconnected since 9pm yesterday evening, including customers located in the following locations:

    Alford, Kirkmichael, Old Rayne, Glenkindie, Auchnagatt, Glenisla, Blackhills, Monymusk, Forfar, Cushnie, Muir Of Fowlis, Enochdhu, Oyne, Pitcaple, Forbes, Methlick, Callander, Alyth, New Byth
    As at 12pm this morning, power has been restored to over 121,150 customers in total, with the majority of villages impacted now back on supply. 6,400 customers currently remain off supply, mainly located in more rural and isolated communities. This includes customers in the following regions:

    Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: 3700
    Moray: 1022
    Angus: 1178
    Perthshire: 300
    Stirlingshire: 200

    All available resources have been deployed to carry out repairs and reconnect supplies to those areas still of supply, with around 850 field and support staff doing all they can to restore power to those who remain off supply as quickly as possible.

    Whilst SSEN expects to make further good progress throughout the day, for some customers where overhead network infrastructure connects single house or group of houses, restoration times will regrettably extend beyond today.

    SSEN expects to restore power to all homes affected by Friday at the latest, subject to no new damage being identified or unforeseen challenges with repairs and restorations.

    The impact of Storm Arwen is a once in a generation event, resulting in over five times as many faults as any previous weather event in the area in the last 20 years and SSEN’s network engineers reporting unprecedented damage to parts of the network in the North East, with over 1,000 faults recorded and many more instances of damage to network infrastructure.

    Access has been a real challenge throughout the event, from road closures due to fallen trees in the first few days, challenging weather conditions, with engineers having to clear dozens of trees in places just to access damage to the network.

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  35. Further news from SPEN via Twitter:

    Reply ↓

  36. In it’s 2:15 PM update on Wednesday Electricity North West reports that it has arranged emergency accommodation for those still without power in the wake of Storm Arwen. See also: https://www.enwl.co.uk/StormArwen

    Electricity North West has secured emergency accommodation near Newby Bridge for up to 300 customers currently affected by Storm Arwen.

    Colleagues from across all sections of the business are working across the region to repair around 900 separate incidents in what has been described as the worst storm damage ever caused to the network.

    At its peak, more than 112,000 properties were affected. While more than 94 per cent of customers have now had their power restored, Electricity North West has secured rooms at the YMCA close to Newby Bridge for customers who need emergency shelter.

    Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s Customer Director and Incident Manager, said: “The devastation caused to our power network by Storm Arwen has been unlike anything we’ve ever seen, and we’re continuing to discover more damage needing repairs.

    “Our people, including hundreds of additional engineers we’ve sourced from across the country, are working flat out to restore power to as many people as quickly as possible, and that work is continuing.

    “I understand the frustrations of customers about the restoration times and we have teams working around the clock providing us with information to ensure those times are as accurate as possible.

    “In the meantime, we are also working hard to help customers who need additional support, providing food vans and community hubs where they’re needed, and now securing emergency accommodation for up to 300 people.”

    As well as restoring power to more than 104,500 properties across the region, Electricity North West has handled more than 68,000 calls from customers and made more than 6,000 calls to people on its Priority Services register.

    Food vans have been deployed to towns and villages across Cumbria, while community hubs have also been set up to provide hot food and drinks and to allow people to recharge mobile phones.

    The emergency accommodation, which comprises of rooms with shower and charging facilities, is at YMCA Lakeside, National Centre, Ulverston, LA12 8BD. Those interested in making use of the facilities should attend the facility.

    As extensive reviews of the network continue, Electricity North West is also updating its website to show more accurate details of when customers who remain without power can expect to be reconnected, with the final customers currently expected to have power restored at the end of the week.

    For more information about the location of food vans, please visit http://www.enwl.co.uk/StormArwen

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  38. In their 10:30 PM Storm Arwen “Red Alert” SSEN report that:

    As at 10pm today, power has been restored to over 120,000 customers in total, with the majority of villages impacted now back on supply. Around 4,100 customers currently remain off supply, mainly located in more rural communities. This includes customers in the following regions:

    Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: 2801
    Moray: 234
    Angus: 824
    Perthshire: 197
    Stirlingshire: 93

    SSEN’s teams will continue to work into the night, where it is safe to do so, and are hoping to restore power to an additional 1,500 customers later this evening and overnight, reconnecting the main network supply to the following locations:

    Lumphanan, Strachan, Sauchen, Strathdon, Inchmarlo, Finzean, Monymusk, rural parts of Kirriemuir

    All available resources have been deployed to carry out repairs and reconnect supplies to those areas still of supply, with around 850 field and support staff doing all they can to restore power as quickly as possible.

    All faults on SSEN’s high voltage network, which are like the ‘A roads’ of the electricity network supplying towns and villages, are now being worked on and are expected to be reconnected by tomorrow evening.

    SSEN is now focusing on assessing damage and carrying out repairs to its low voltage network, equivalent to the ‘B roads’ that supply individual homes and groups of properties. Extensive damage has also been caused to this localised infrastructure, which in places has experienced multiple instances of damage on single circuits.

    For some customers where overhead network infrastructure connects single or small groups of houses, restoration times will regrettably extend further. SSEN continues to aim to restore power to all homes affected by Friday, subject to no new damage being identified or unforeseen challenges.

    Mobile generation is also being deployed to support with restoration efforts, particularly in locations with substantial damage still to be rebuilt, speeding up restoration times for customers where possible.

    The impact of Storm Arwen is a once in a generation event, resulting in over five times as many faults compared to any previous weather event in the area in the last 20 years. SSEN’s network engineers are reporting unprecedented damage to parts of the network in the North East, with over 1,000 faults recorded and many more instances of damage to network infrastructure.

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  39. In their 12:00 PM Storm Arwen “Red Alert” on Thursday SSEN state that:

    As its teams continue to make good progress restoring the final customers still off supply following the extensive and catastrophic damage caused by Storm Arwen, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) continues to encourage the remaining customers still affected to take up support with accommodation and meals.

    Around 1,500 customers had their power restored throughout the night, with power now restored to over 125,000 customers in total since the impact of Storm Arwen first began.

    As at 12pm today, including remote, single or small groups of houses, around 3,100 customers currently remain off supply, with Aberdeenshire the main area affected. A regional breakdown of customers still of supply and the areas affected is set out below:

    Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire: around 2,400 customers, mainly around Aboyne, Banchory, Inverurie and Macduff
    Moray: around 200 customers (LV faults), mainly around Fochabers, Marnoch and Portsoy
    Angus: around 300, mainly around Lunanhead and Maryton
    Perthshire: around 200 mainly around Aberfeldy and Glenshee
    Stirlingshire: around 25, mainly small and isolated pockets of customers in rural locations

    All outstanding faults on SSEN’s high voltage network, which are like the ‘A roads’ of the electricity network supplying towns and villages, have been resourced with the majority expected to be reconnected today.

    SSEN is now focusing on assessing damage and carrying out repairs to its low voltage network, equivalent to the ‘B roads’ that supply individual homes and groups of properties. Extensive damage has also been caused to this localised infrastructure, which in places has experienced multiple instances of damage on single circuits.

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  40. ENWL report in their 2:30 PM Storm Arwen update on Thursday that:

    Electricity North West has restored power to more than 115,000 properties affected by Storm Arwen and is continuing restoration efforts.

    Steph Trubshaw, Incident Manager, said: “We’re working flat out, and have been since Friday, to restore power to every last property. We know how incredibly hard this has been for people, particularly in this cold weather. We are working as fast as we can and won’t stop until everyone is back on. Our engineering and lines teams have done some incredibly difficult work to restore supplies and people across the business are supporting that effort to get power back for everyone. We have also cancelled all planned work on the network for the next week.”

    Properties without power are mainly located in the south Lakes with engineers deployed across the region to tackle all remaining damage.

    Electricity North West is aiming to restore all properties by Friday (3 December) and has quashed rumours of lengthier power cuts. Steph Trubshaw said: “There are rumours going round that people will be off for weeks. To be clear, we are confident that no customers in the North West will be off past the weekend as a result of this incident.”

    As well as funding food, travel and hotel expenses for those who have been without power the longest, the network operator also reaffirmed its commitment to paying customers who’ve been without power.

    Payments to customers following storms are set nationally by energy regulator Ofgem, depending on the severity of the incident. Storm Arwen will be classed as a ‘category 2’ storm in the North West, meaning customers are eligible for payments of £70 if they have been without power for 48 hours, plus a further £70 for each additional 12-hour period that they are off supply, up to a maximum of £700. The 48 hours starts when engineers can access equipment.

    Steph Trubshaw added: “Our focus at the moment is still on restoring power to the final properties but we will of course pay everything that is set out by Ofgem. This is likely to take a few weeks and we will provide more information on our website over the next few days. We have also cancelled all planned work on the network for the next week so we can focus resources on final repairs.”

    See food van locations and other key information, including how eligible customers can claim payments at http://www.enwl.co.uk/StormArwen.

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  41. Here is Kwasi Kwarteng’s latest Twitter thread on the aftermath of Storm Arwen.

    Note in particular the part where he states that:

    It is completely unacceptable that thousands are still without power for this length of time. I’ve made clear to Operators they must ensure every customer is reconnected ASAP.

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  42. In their 11 PM update Northern Powergrid point out that:

    Power has been restored to 234,000 homes and businesses and the network operator is sharing details of welfare support available for all customers still affected by the storm through a dedicated page on its website – northernpowergrid.com/storm-arwen

    Northern Powergrid’s teams continue to keep Local Resilience Forums across the North East informed to coordinate multi-agency partner support for the most vulnerable communities affected as a result of Storm Arwen.

    The network operator’s teams will continue to work into the night and fresh teams are ready to resume the ongoing restoration effort from first light as Northern Powergrid tackles the trail of destruction left behind by Storm Arwen. A team of more than 2,000 people continue to support its response in the field and behind the scenes.

    With the scale of damage and work required some customers have been advised that they could be off supply over the weekend. Northern Powergrid is advising that customers continue with alternative arrangements, wherever possible, like staying with family or friends until their power can be safely restored. If this is not possible, the network operator is reminding people of the welfare support it is offering which includes financial recompense for reasonable accommodation and costs for domestic customers. Customers can find out more at northernpowergrid.com/storm-arwen or request help by emailing [email protected].

    Paul Glendinning, Executive Director at Northern Powergrid, said: “Our top priorities are reconnecting our customers as soon as possible, keeping them informed to the best of our abilities and doing everything we can to support the wider effort in our communities aimed at helping those who need us the most.

    “We’re sorry for the hardship and disruption our customers are experiencing. In addition to our restoration efforts and work to keep customers informed, we’ve suspended all other non-essential activities across our business to deploy teams of people and our support vehicles to work with the emergency services, local resilience teams and partners in our communities as part of the wider response to this emergency. We have also made financial and practical assistance available to help people through this challenging situation.

    “We understand how critical this situation is for our customers and we’re working as fast as we can to deal with a storm impact which is one of the worst that our team has seen. Our dedicated teams will not stop until we have everyone affected by the storm back on supply.”

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  43. SPEN are offering additional compensation to their customers that experienced a power cut lasting more than 48 hours:

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  44. In their 10 AM Storm Arwen update on Friday SSEN report that:

    A further 900 customers were reconnected throughout the night, with power now restored to over 130,000 customers in total since Storm Arwen first struck. This includes all faults, including those on the low voltage network.

    As at 10am today, around 1,600 customers remain off supply, which includes single or small groups of houses fed by SSEN’s low voltage network. These customers are mainly located in rural and isolated communities, with Aberdeenshire the main area still affected. SSEN continues to enhance resources and welfare provisions in the region as part of the final push to restore power to customers following the catastrophic and extensive impact of Storm Arwen.

    SSEN expects to restore power to a further 1,100 homes throughout the course of today and into the evening, where it remains safe for work to continue and subject to no unforeseen difficulties with ongoing repairs. Around 500 customers are expected to be restored throughout the course of Saturday. SSEN’s teams are proactively contacting those customers who remain off supply to offer support where required, including alternative accommodation and food.

    Mark Rough, Director of Operations, said:

    “Our teams made further progress overnight as we focus all efforts and resources on restoring the final customers who remain off supply following the catastrophic impact of Storm Arwen.

    “Additional teams continue to be deployed to Aberdeenshire to support restoration efforts, as well as enhancing welfare provisions in the region, with our teams continuing to proactively contact those customers who remain off supply to offer whatever support we can.

    “We fully recognise the challenge Storm Arwen has presented to all our customers who have been impacted, particularly those who are still without power, and we would once again like to apologise for the difficulties our customers are facing.

    “We would also like to thank our customers for their patience, understanding and the support they have shown our teams and would reassure all customers still off supply that we are doing everything we can to reconnect power as soon as possible. For anyone still off supply, we would encourage them to call 105 and our teams will look to provide whatever support is required.

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  45. In their 1 PM update on Friday ENWL report that:

    More than 200 generators have been brought in from across the UK to restore power to the final customers affected by Storm Arwen in the North West.

    As of 12pm on Friday Electricity North West had restored power to 117,000 customers and had just 1,700 left to restore.

    Steph Trubshaw, Incident Manager, said: “While we’re connecting generators to restore power to the final customers, we’re still carrying out repairs to the main network, so this actually increases our workload in the short term. Our teams have worked solidly now for a week in a heroic effort to restore power and are still going – starting before first light and working well in to the dark in very cold and wet conditions.

    “Short power cuts will be caused as we remove generators and switch people back to the main network but this is perfectly normal and is the only way to switch people back to the main supply. If your power goes off again after having been restored, please wait 30 minutes before contacting us as it may be that we are switching your supply from a generator, please also check your trip switches and help neighbours to check theirs if needed.

    “We’re also still seeing power cuts being reported, there are a lot of second homes in the area affected, and some power cuts have not yet been reported. We may have reenergised lines after rebuilding a 2km section of line with 30 new poles for example, but unreported damage further down the line might still mean people are off. We have 13,000km of overhead lines and while we’ve done everything we can – from helicopter and foot patrols – we still need customers to let us know of any damage they see or any properties without power so that we can continue repairs.”

    Questions are now turning to compensation and ongoing resilience of the network. Payments to customers following storms are set nationally by energy regulator Ofgem, depending on the severity of the incident. Storm Arwen will be classed as a ‘category 2’ storm in the North West, meaning customers are eligible for payments of £70 if they have been without power for 48 hours, plus a further £70 for each additional 12-hour period that they are off supply.

    On resilience, Steph Trubshaw said: “We receive about £90 a year from each customer’s energy bill and we use that money to invest millions each year cutting back trees from overhead lines and upgrading poles and lines where needed to reduce the impact of storms but we can only cut back trees where we have permission from the landowner to do so. Three quarters of our network is underground but underground networks are often not practical in remote rural locations due to distances and ground conditions. Instead we very closely manage the overhead network but the damage caused by Storm Arwen is like nothing we have seen for decades.”

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  46. Here is Friday’s update from Kwasi Kwarteng via Twitter:

    Today, we also removed the compensation limit to allow customers affected by Storm Arwen to claim up to £140 per day they are without power.

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  47. In their 12:50 PM update on Saturday ENWL also refer to the weather forecast for next week mentioned above. They report that:

    Electricity North West is focusing efforts to restore power to the final properties impacted by Storm Arwen. Over 110,000 properties across the north west have been impacted since the storm hit the region on Friday evening, causing extensive damage to the electricity network.

    As well as working hard to restore power to the remaining 350 customers, Electricity North West is preparing for more potential bad weather next week.

    Paul Bircham, Electricity North West’s Regulation and Communications Director, said: “There is no doubt that the damage we have seen to our network as a result of Storm Arwen is worse than anything we have seen in many, many years. It has caused trees and debris to fall on our equipment, bringing down overhead lines and blocking roads.

    “Our focus is on restoring power to the remaining impacted properties, but we are also making sure we are prepared for future adverse weather. Storm Arwen caused unprecedented damage across the network, and there will be trees and vegetation that didn’t fall down last week but are now very weak and potentially dangerous. We ask everyone to be extra vigilant and take great care.

    “If any customer sees any damage to our equipment please stay away and report this to us by calling 105 as soon as possible. Alternatively, if there are dangerous trees that aren’t near our equipment these should be reported to your local council.”

    Electricity North West is continuing to work on restoring electricity supplies and fixing the remaining damage, supported by engineers from across the country.

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  48. SSEN report in their 1 PM update on Saturday that:

    Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) is working to reconnect the final 560 homes which lost power as a result of Storm Arwen, throughout the course of today (Saturday 4 December).

    The majority of the customers still to be reconnected are in Aberdeenshire, with small numbers in Perthshire, Angus and Moray.

    Mark Rough, SSEN’s Director of Operations, said:

    “Our teams continued to make really good progress throughout Friday night and they’re working really hard, in worsening weather conditions, to restore the last remaining customers throughout the course of today. Our localised network has sustained significant damage and through a combination of repairs and mobile generation we will continue to work until all power is restored.

    “We have over 700 field staff carrying working with support from other network operators and contractors from across the UK and Ireland, and everyone is making a real effort to reconnect the final homes as quickly and safely as possible.”

    “I’d like to thank customers for their continued patience and apologise for the disruption caused. We continue to work closely with local authorities and local resilience partnerships in Aberdeenshire to support welfare checks to those who remain off supply.”

    The following welfare facilities will continue to support customers who remain off supply, providing hot food and drinks. Teams from SSEN are using 4X4 vehicles to deliver hot food and drinks to customers in some of the more remote and isolated communities:

    Bellabeg, Strathdon – Lay-by across from the shop – 08:00 – 22:00
    Turriff – The Haughs – 08:00 – 22:00
    Aboyne – In the car park by The Green – 08:00 – 22:00
    Alford – Transport Museum Car Park – 08:00 – 22:00
    Tarland – in the Square – Serving 11:00 – 22:00
    Torphins – In the Square – 08:00 – 22:00
    Bogniebrae – Bognie Arms Car Park – 08:00 – 22:00
    Banff – Banff Springs Hotel Layby, One Pot Shop Food Van – 09:00 – 15:00
    Lumphanan – Lumphanan Village Hall – 08:00 – 22:00
    Sauchen – opposite the village notice board and bus stop – 08:00 – 22:00
    Banchory – Bellfield Car Park – 08:00 – 22:00
    Macduff – The Knowes Hotel – SATURDAY AND SUNDAY – BOOKINGS ONLY
    Whitehills – The Galley Restaurant –12:00 – 16:00 (SATURDAY) and 16:00 -18:30 (SUNDAY)
    Banff – Fife Lodge Hotel – serving 12:00 – 14:00 (SATURDAY) and 12:00 – 14:00 and 17:00 – 20:00 (SUNDAY)
    Methlick – Ythanview Hotel – serving 12:00 – 17:00 SATURDAY & SUNDAY
    Kirriemuir – near Bon Scott Statue – 08:00 – 22:00

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  49. In their 2:30 PM severe weather update on Saturday SPEN state that:

    Storm Arwen brought winds of over 90mph which has caused some of the worst network damage we’ve experienced in over 25 years.

    Our teams worked tirelessly to restore power to the 200,000 customers impacted, often in challenging weather conditions, to connect 89% of affected customers in the first 24 hours following the storm and 96% within 48 hours.

    We’re really sorry if you were affected by the damage to the power network caused by the storm and appreciate everyone’s patience and support during this time.

    Following the severe impact on our network caused by Storm Arwen, we are providing an additional proactive compensation payment of £150 per household to those off for more than 48 hours as an apology for the disruption caused. You don’t need to do anything, we will proactively contact you about this. Click here for more information about our compensation and guaranteed standards payments.

    We are also launching a comprehensive post storm review of our network performance and operational response, with a particular focus on our communications with customers and the support provided to rural communities without power for extended periods.

    This review will engage with local authority emergency planning teams and local resilience partnership forums that support our communities, and we will also be engaging with the Scottish and Welsh Government resilience teams. Click here for more information about our post storm review.

    Our call centres have been inundated with calls and messages on social media and we’ve been working around the clock to reply to customers. We received more than 134,000 customer calls since the start of the storm on Friday and over 270,000 messages have been sent to customers to provide updates. This, in context, is nearly 3 months of calls in 5 days. Those customers who are vulnerable and registered for our Priority Services Register are always prioritised in our call queue. We also proactively contact vulnerable customers, prioritising those who are medically dependent on electricity.

    We are continuing to keep all of our customers up-to-date throughout via phone calls or messages. We have also been working with all resilience partnerships in our areas to ensure all additional support is offered to those most vulnerable wherever possible. We have proactively visited our customers over the last few days to ensure they are safe and provided over 100 generators to customers in the Borders area.

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  51. In their 8 PM Storm Arwen update ENWL report that:

    Fewer than 120 customers remain affected with restorations continuing into the night.

    Electricity North West’s Regulation and Communications Director, Paul Bircham, said: “Our teams have made a huge effort to restore power to impacted customers as quickly as possible, in extremely difficult conditions. Although our restoration efforts are almost complete our work will continue to rebuild the network now that customers are back on.

    “We have had generators brought up to Cumbria from as far away as Southampton to to get people back on in areas where the damage is too complex for an immediate fix.”

    Since Storm Arwen battered the country last Friday (26 November) engineers from Electricity North West have restored power to over 110,000 properties.

    The storm brought snow, ice and wind speeds over 65mph for many hours which caused extensive damage to the electricity network, as well as causing access issues with snow drifts and hundreds of fallen trees.

    The storm is widely considered to be the most damaging in decades with more than a million people affected across the UK. Electricity North West has provided almost 10,000 free meals to customers affected as well as accommodation where needed.

    See the latest information, including details of free food and respite centres, as well as how to claim payment if you have been affected at http://www.enwl.co.uk/StormArwen.

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  52. SSEN’s 10 PM Storm Arwen update states that:

    Teams from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) have continued to work throughout today on reconnecting the final homes which affected by Storm Arwen.

    Bad weather has presented additional challenges today, causing access issues and presenting additional welfare and safety risks for repair teams.

    We remain committed to reconnecting all customers as quickly and safely as possible. Due to today’s weather conditions hampering progress approximately 30 properties will be without power overnight.

    Mark Rough, SSEN’s Director of Operations, said:

    “The weather conditions have been really challenging for our teams today, but we are continuing to work throughout Saturday night to safely connect the final few homes. Our localised network has sustained significant damage and through a combination of repairs and mobile generation we will continue to work until all power is restored.

    “We have over 700 field staff working with support from other network operators and contractors from across Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and everyone is making a real effort to reconnect the final homes as quickly and safely as possible.”

    “I’d like to thank customers for their continued patience and apologise for the disruption caused. We continue to work closely with local authorities and local resilience partnerships in Aberdeenshire to support welfare checks to those who remain off supply.”

    Contact us if you are still without power and are not receiving updates

    Although we have received a large number of notifications from customers through the course of Storm Arwen and have conducted line patrols by foot and helicopter, we want to be absolutely sure that we have visibility of all power interruptions and network damage at a local level. We therefore continue to ask customers to contact us on 105 if they:

    – are currently without power;

    – have not contacted SSEN by phone or app to report the power cut; and

    – have received no contact from SSEN, either by text or by phone

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  53. In their 11 PM update on Saturday Northern Powergrid report that:

    We continue to do everything possible to reconnect our customers after one of the biggest storms we have seen in over 20 years severely damaged our network throughout our region. We are pleased to say that we have managed to deliver more than we expected today, but we also discovered a small amount of additional work that is now in our plan.

    That has reduced the number of customers who are still affected down to 3,900. We are now hopeful that the work we have in front of us will be complete on Tuesday of next week, provided that any additional damage that we find is small. We continue to work hard to improve on that and will keep you updated.

    Progress has been particularly encouraging in Weardale and Teesdale, where despite challenging weather conditions, we have reduced the number of customers without power to fewer than 50, which we expect to restore on Sunday 5 December.

    Our focus remains on safely restoring power as quickly as possible. This includes making extensive use of generators to get our customers back on supply. 40 more have been deployed today and we will be deploying more tomorrow.

    In total, over 260 generators have been deployed across the North East to get the power on for customers while we work to rebuild the overhead lines damaged by Storm Arwen. Generators on larger lorry-delivered units are being used to serve villages or community centres. In addition to the larger sets, we are using some small ‘suitcase’ size generators to give short-term support to the homes of our most vulnerable customers.

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  54. In their 2 PM update on Sunday Northern Powergrid state that:

    Today we expect to restore power to remaining homes and businesses in Weardale and Teesdale. This is now less than 50 properties and our teams are doing all they can to get them reconnected.

    We still have a lot do and all our teams are working with one common goal – get customers back on power as quickly as it is safe to do so. We are working to restore supplies to the 3,000 customers who are still affected. We have restored power to 237,000 of the 240,000 customer impacted by Storm Arwen.

    Over 260 generators have been deployed across the North East to get the power on for customers while we work to rebuild the overhead lines damaged by Storm Arwen.

    These significant repairs must be done before we can get to a street-by-street and house-by-house level. If you cannot see one of our engineers in your area yet, you have not been missed – they are working to restore power further down the line to enable the final repairs that get your power back on…

    Although more adverse weather conditions are predicted, we are now hopeful that the work we have in front of us will be completed on Tuesday 7 December, provided that any additional damage that we find is not extensive. We continue to work hard to improve on that and will keep you updated.

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  55. According to the ENA’s “Latest update from the energy networks” at 2 PM on Sunday:

    • Currently 3,190 homes are without power, down from around 4,700 on Saturday night.
    • The majority of homes without power are in the north east of England where 2,000 people are supporting and reconnecting customers.
    • Over 1 million homes have been affected by storm damage to the power network and 99% of homes have been reconnected.

    The next update will be published at 10am on Monday 6th December.

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  56. In their 9 PM update Northern Powergrid report that they expect to have restored the electricity supply to all those affected by Storm Arwen by Tuesday at the latest:

    Despite the continued challenging weather and working conditions today, we have continued to make good progress for our customers.

    Our teams have worked incredibly hard and delivered more than we expected at the start of the day as we continue to do everything we can to reconnect our customers after one of the biggest storms in over 20 years.

    Since yesterday’s 11pm update we’ve restored power to a further 2,300 homes and businesses reducing the number of customers still affected as a result of Storm Arwen down to 1,600. We remain hopeful that the work we have in front of us will be completed on Monday 6 or Tuesday 7 December.

    This progress is dependent on us getting some decent weather, not uncovering significant amounts of additional damage on our network and the ongoing fantastic support we are getting from other companies around the country through our industry’s mutual aid agreement which is in place for extreme events such as this.

    Please be assured that we will keep striving to beat these estimated restoration target dates and we will keep you updated on our progress.

    The snow last night did slow us down late in the day in Weardale and Teesdale, but the work that was delayed has been delivered today.

    The bad weather also caused some new power cuts in the Rothbury area, which have also already been restored. We want to reassure our customers these faults were not a recurrence of the problems caused by the storm. It’s not unusual for power cuts to happen in blizzards – and we had teams in the area ready and able to respond quickly.

    Our focus remains on safely restoring power as quickly as possible. We deployed another 40 generators across the North East today, taking the total to around 300 and we will be deploying more tomorrow.

    In Weardale and Teesdale we will very shortly complete the restoration of all customers affected by Storm Arwen. Our teams will still be seen working in the area over the next few days as we complete the rest of the rebuild. This will require some short (20-30 minute) interruptions so we can disconnect the generators, re-energise that part of the line and reconnect customers back to the wider regional power network. Wherever possible, we will contact our customers beforehand, by text message. If you have not provided us with your mobile number, we would encourage you to contact us on 105 so we can update your details and ensure you are kept informed.

    The teams in these areas, made up of Northern Powergrid teams working alongside contractors and other network colleagues, have successfully completed in one week a major overhead line construction project that would normally take many weeks, and have done so in extremely challenging conditions.

    Meanwhile in Northumberland, our teams have carried our major repairs in Crawcrook repairing a 50-metre span of overhead power lines to get 36 properties reconnected before moving straight on to another section further down the network to replace more than 150 metres of overhead network to get the lights back on for another 152 customers. The teams behind this work then headed off to carry out more work in the community to support customers and restore peoples’ power.

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  57. In their Sunday evening update SSEN report that they have at long last restored the electricity supply to all those affected by Storm Arwen, although it sounds as though that is still with the assistance of some mobile generators:

    Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has now restored all reported customer faults following Storm Arwen.

    We would like to thank our customers for their patience as we reconnected the 135,000 homes in the north of Scotland impacted by the once in a generation weather event.

    Following full restoration of power to customers, we will maintain a heavy staff presence across the affected areas carrying out remedial repairs and maintaining and refuelling any mobile generators as required. Our teams will be on hand to support our customers until such time as all full repairs have been carried out.

    We have moved our operational status in the north of Scotland from Red Alert to Yellow Alert and will remain on this status until we return the network to full operational health.

    Mark Rough, Director of Operations for SSEN, said:

    “In the 35 years that I have worked for SSEN, I can honestly say that this is the worst storm I have ever experienced. The extensive damage caused to our network by Storm Arwen has been unprecedented in some areas, with the North East region experiencing the equivalent of almost two years’ worth of overhead line faults in just one 12-hour period.

    “I am fully aware of the difficult situation this has caused for many of our customers and am incredibly sorry for the length of time that some our customers have been without power. I know that this has been a challenging time for many, and I want to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while our teams battled to restore supplies.

    “I’d also like to pay tribute to the hard work of my teams across Scotland and everyone who has supported us, including people from as far afield as Dorset and Dublin. They have done an amazing job in some exceptionally demanding conditions. This monumental effort has been supported by great collaborative working with local community groups and government agencies to ensure the safety and welfare of customers and communities.

    “As we continue to work to return the network to full operational health in the coming days, we will maintain enhanced staffing levels. This is important as we want to make absolutely sure that we are aware of all faults on our localised network and are calling on any customers who are returning to an unoccupied property, or who have not been in contact with us and are still without power, to get in touch by calling 105 as soon as possible.”

    We are actively tracking a weather front that is due to move through the country on Tuesday and will monitor this on a regular basis during the next 24-48 hours, moving resources and equipment to locations we believe will see the worst of the weather.

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  59. Boris Johnson is rolling up his sleeves and getting involved in the Storm Arwen “blackout” discussion:

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  60. In their 9:30 PM Storm Arwen update on Monday Northern Powergrid report that:

    Northern Powergrid is continuing its major restoration efforts after Storm Arwen devasted part of its electricity network, particularly in Northumberland and County Durham.

    The electricity network operator is also tracking the weather closely and has taken action to ensure its teams are ready should Storm Barra affect its network and disrupt customers.

    With a Met Office yellow weather warning across the whole of the UK for tomorrow (7 December), Northern Powergrid’s teams have remained focused on completing as much restoration work as possible today for those customers still affected by Storm Arwen.

    Working in ongoing challenging conditions, its teams have now restored power to around 239,300 of the 240,000 customers affected by Storm Arwen.

    With 700 customers still off supply as a result of the storm, Northern Powergrid’s teams will do all they can to reduce this number further and get the lights on for more customers tonight.

    The forecast includes drifting snow in the Pennine regions of Northumberland, County Durham and Yorkshire and gusty winds across the whole of the North East and Yorkshire. This could impact Northern Powergrid’s network on higher ground and potentially disrupt customers, including those previously affected by Storm Arwen.

    Unfortunately, Storm Barra’s arrival during the daytime tomorrow (Tuesday) could also impact the network operator’s work to rebuild overhead lines as it continues to get the remaining affected customers back on supply after Storm Arwen. Its teams will continue to work wherever it is safe to do so.

    The network operator has a fleet of 4×4 and, other specialist access equipment which it will use should windborne debris, trees and other vegetation damage its overhead power lines and the weather makes travel and site access difficult.

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  63. Northern Powergrid report that:

    We are pleased to confirm that, despite the additional challenges presented by today’s difficult weather, we have completed the work that our customers needed us to do to restore power tonight. Thank you for your patience as we battled to reconnect customers following the disruption caused by the worst storm in over 20 years.

    We have reconnected 240,000 homes and businesses that were without power because of the extensive storm damage caused to our electricity network. We’re sorry that we couldn’t get it done quicker, because we know that it has been very difficult for our customers to be without power for such a long time.

    This experience has taught us that there are areas where we need to improve. In particular, in the way we use our systems to communicate with you in the event of major power cuts. We have already made some changes and will learn more lessons from the reviews that will follow.

    The performance of our team in repairing and rebuilding the network has been outstanding. Our dedicated colleagues have worked so hard in extremely challenging circumstances to contact our customers since the storm hit. The same is true of our colleagues who have worked with community partners to provide direct welfare support to our customers. Also, we are grateful to the other network companies and our contractors for their support – we could not have done it without them. It has been an enormous team effort.

    In such a large and complex event, it is possible that a customer remains off supply even though we believe we’re finished, for example if some damage remains that we don’t know about. If you are still without power, or you have a safety concern relating to our network, please let us know by calling our 24/7 team on 105.

    Storm Barra was not the size or scale of Storm Arwen and did not cause major damage or disruption to our network. However, the extent of the damage caused by Storm Arwen means that it will take some time to put everything back to normal. Many of our customers are currently being supplied by generators which will need to be removed as we complete the permanent repairs. We expect to be working well into the new year to bring our network back to full strength.

    With supplies restored, our next step will include moving quickly to make compensation payments for those customers without power for more than two days and to make any remaining payments needed to honour our financial support package. We understand the strain this has placed on our customers at a difficult time.

    However some commenters on Twitter disagree:

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  65. SSEN has issued the following statement in the aftermath of Storm Arwen:

    Following the extensive impact of Storm Arwen which caused significant damage to the electricity network in the north of Scotland, SSEN Distribution is offering enhanced support to its customers and communities affected by the disruption.

    The damage caused to SSEN’s network by Storm Arwen was unprecedented in some areas, with the North East region experiencing the equivalent of almost two years’ worth of overhead line faults in just one 12-hour period. Following a week of intensive effort by the over 800-strong team, power was restored to all customers on Sunday evening.

    SSEN’s enhanced package of support has both a customer and community element. In a unique recognition of the exceptional impact on customers as a result of the weather event, SSEN will add a 20% goodwill payment to the statutory compensation values set by the energy regulator, Ofgem.

    This additional payment is designed to ensure those impacted most by Storm Arwen will receive more, and the payment will increase depending on the amount of time a customer was without power. For example, customers reconnected after seven days will receive an additional £154 on top of their £770 statutory payment.

    Both the standard and additional compensation payments will be made automatically, where possible, as soon as data verification is complete. Payments will be issued before Christmas to as many customers as SSEN can process, with those most affected given priority.

    As a priority, and separate to automatic compensation payments, SSEN is also processing reimbursement to customers for reasonable hotel accommodation and food expenses. Affected customers are asked to submit claims to [email protected], including all receipts.

    Another area tested by Storm Arwen was the resilience of the communities impacted. Throughout the storm response, SSEN worked collaboratively with local resilience partnerships across Angus, Grampian, Perthshire and Stirlingshire, taking a multi-agency approach to ensure the safety and welfare of the public.

    In recognition of this critical area, SSEN will make an additional £500,000 contribution to the SSEN Resilient Communities Fund, which delivers financial grants to community and not-for-profit organisations for support with community resilience projects. This additional contribution will take the 2022 Resilient Communities Fund total to £1million for the north of Scotland, with the funding round brought forward to January 2022.

    The total value of this additional support to customers and communities is £2.5m and is in addition to the statutory compensation SSEN will pay to customers in line with Ofgem’s Guaranteed Standards process, where SSEN has agreed to lift the cap for this event.

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