Disruption caused by Storm Arwen sees Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks remain at red alert for north of Scotland
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SCOTTISH and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) remains at red alert status for the north of Scotland following the damage caused by Storm Arwen yesterday.
Storm Arwen has caused significant damage to SSEN’s electricity network due to fallen trees, branches, and other wind-blown debris.
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. Around 75,000 customers' current remains off supply. The main areas affected are Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and the Moray Coast.
Mark Rough, Director of Customer Operations at SSEN, said: "The impact of Storm Arwen continues to be felt across much of the country and has resulted in significant damage to our network across the north of Scotland.
"Our teams have been out since first light this morning to fully assess the extent of damage, supported by helicopter patrols to identify the worst affected areas, as we continue to restore power to customers in what remains very challenging conditions.
"Despite detailed preparations, the prolonged and severe nature of the weather continues to hamper efforts to restore supplies, with the high winds only subsiding from the early hours of this morning.
"We would like to apologise to customers who have experienced a loss of supply and would like to reassure them that our teams are doing all we can to prioritise fault restoration and carry out repairs at the earliest opportunity.
"We continue to proactively contact customers on our Priority Services Register to offer extra support where required and I'd encourage anyone concerned to give our dedicated teams a call on 105, where we can provide additional support and guidance."
Welfare facilities are being deployed to key areas affected to offer customers hot food and drinks whilst they remain off supply. In Moray, that can be accessed in Cullen.
The energy company enacted its established resilience plans after tracking the storm for several days. The company also said that additional resources will be used today to support restoration efforts with around 500 field-based staff and an additional 100 support staff deployed.
SSEN has urged people to not approach any damaged equipment and instead, report it to SSEN by calling 105 or via their Power Track app and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.
Customers are also being encouraged to be prepared for the possibility of disruption to supplies by saving the emergency power cut number – 105 – to their phone to use if their power goes off, or if they see any damage to the electricity network.
Regular updates can be found on the company's Facebook and Twitter pages.
A further update is expected at 1.30pm today.
More information on SSEN's Priority Services Register can be found here.
