UPDATE FOR CUSTOMERS AFFECTED BY STORM ÉOWYN

UPDATE: 6:50pm, Saturday 25 January

• Our teams have been working since Friday to repair the extensive damage to the network, and whilst great progress has been made in restoring 138,000 we are still working hard to get the remaining 11,000 customers’ power back on. 

• Parts of the North East network still need significant repairs carrying out, and whilst we’ve worked hard to half the number of customers without power from this morning, we will continue to work on getting as many customers back on tonight as possible. However, some customers will remain without power through Sunday, and into the early part of next week.    

• Our live power cut map on the Northern Powergrid website has the most up to date information on when we expect to be able to get the power back on for individual areas, and we will continue to proactively update customers as soon as know more.   

• We are sorry to all those customers who are still without power due to the storm.  We are offering additional support with reimbursing overnight accommodation up to £150 per household towards hotel rooms for those who have had no power for over 24 hours, and reimbursing costs for essentials such as hot food.    

Our teams will continue to work throughout the weekend to get as many customers’ power back on as quickly as possible. We know having no power for more than a few hours can be really challenging and our welfare teams have been out in the communities most affected today, offering hot drinks, snacks, charging points, and answering any questions, along with food vans and warm hubs welcoming people whilst we work to get the lights back on.   

Steve McDonald, Interim Director of Field Operations said, “Firstly, I want to apologise to customers who remain without power for another night. We know how difficult it is to be without power, and we’re doing everything we can to repair the significant damage caused by Storm Éowyn.

“Although we were not the worst affected by Storm Éowyn, the impact on our network has been significant in terms of damage to our overhead lines, particularly in the North East. The repair work needed to restore power is extensive. We have over 250 separate locations where repairs are needed. We have all our available resources working on the worst affected areas and are grateful for the extra support we’ve been given from UK Power Networks colleagues who have been less affected than us, and have come up to help with the repairs so we can get as many customers’ back on as quickly as possible. We will keep customers updated on our progress. Please check our power cut map for updates and if you need any additional support, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to help. 

“For those customers who are without power for more than 24 hours, we will contribute towards overnight accommodation and essentials whilst we work to get your power back on.  

“Finally, thank you to all our customers for your support and understanding whilst we continue to do our best to get to the rest of the repair work done. We’ve had a tough winter so far, and we are grateful for your words of support for our teams.” 

We want to support our customers as best we can, and therefore we’re offering additional support with overnight accommodation up to £150 per household towards hotel rooms for those who have had no power for over 24 hours, and reimbursing costs of up to £30 for essentials such as hot food.   

For customers who have been without power for over 24 hours: 

For any claims, receipts must be provided for hotel accommodation, or reimbursement will not be processed. Please send any receipts and details of your claim to [email protected]. We will be contacting customer directly who may be entitled to compensation under our Guaranteed Standards of Service.