Across central and Southern Scotland 97% of customers have now had power restored following the impact of Storm Eowyn.
The rare red weather event, which brought sustained hurricane speed winds to some areas of the country, saw more than 195,000 properties across our area lose power across the weekend. Around 5,000 are currently without power, with engineers continuing to work tirelessly to bring that number down.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks paid tribute to hard working SP Energy Networks employees on a visit to the company’s ‘storm hub’ at its Cambuslang depot yesterday where teams are coordinating efforts to rebuild areas of the network ravaged by the storm.
Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “Meeting engineers and control room staff from SP Energy Networks who have been working day and night across the country, it is clear how much work has gone into restoring their customers and how committed they are to continuing their efforts to reconnect every single affected household.”
Hundreds of engineers have been working across the country from 6am on Friday morning to restore power as quickly and safely as possible in very difficult conditions.
Additional people and resources have arrived from around the UK to support the herculean effort to get power back to customers.
Ahead of the storm SP Energy Networks mobilised additional customer service colleagues who have taken over 72,000 calls since it hit on Friday - the equivalent to two months’ worth of calls in two days.
More than 200,000 SMS text messages have also been issued proactively to customers on the Priority Services Register to offer advice, support and practical help dependant on their circumstances.
Aileen Rourke, SP Energy Networks Scotland Distribution Director, said: “We know it has been a difficult few days for our customers and I thank them for all of their support after what has been one of the worst storms we’ve faced.
“We have made good progress to restore power and have our full resource deployed, but won’t rest till everyone is back on supply.
“The strength and severity of Eowyn has caused the equivalent of over 100 days’ worth of faults in less than three days and our engineers have been working tirelessly to repair each of these individual faults, but it is mammoth task, especially when the weather has continued to bring challenges.
“In some cases engineers are walking miles to get to broken poles and damaged power lines due to the remote locations and get equipment to the affected area. We’ve got every member of our team working hard across the country to get people back on supply and will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government, local authorities and other services to support customers.”
Supporting customers has been at the heart of SP Energy Networks’ response to Storm Eowyn – from proactively contacting customers on the Priority Services Register before the storm hit to the welfare support being provided to the communities still without power.
We are providing hotel accommodation, access to hot food, vouchers and food vans as well as warm hubs currently in operation in the worst affected areas.
Resources have been increased within customer service teams to help manage the thousands of calls received – around two months’ worth of calls within 48 hours; proactively 200,000 SMS messages have been sent out; and people brought in from every part of the business to make calls out to customers, with a focus on those who are medically-dependent on electricity.
Teams continue to pull out all the stops and do everything to support customers while engineering teams work round the clock to get everyone back on supply.
For more information on what to do in the event of a power emergency, visit spenergynetworks.co.uk