Disruption to electricity supplies during recent severe weather

13 Jan 2012

Following the storm force winds experienced earlier in the month resulting in the loss of power to so many properties within our network area in Scotland, I felt I should write and express my thanks to our customers for their patience, understanding and support in what must have been very tough and challenging conditions.

As a result of the storm, our teams undertook the equivalent of four months of fault repair work in just four days and the support of the local community was invaluable to us. In many cases, local residents were offering use of 4x4s, quad bikes and assisting in clearing roads blocked by debris to allow our engineers access to damaged parts of the electricity network as quickly as possible.

While we used social network Twitter, our website and emergency line to provide updates, we appreciate that communication during an event like this is critical and we will be looking at how we can improve this during severe weather events in the future.

In exceptional events such as these, industry regulator Ofgem specifies the level of compensation which is available to customers. However, we have decided to make a payment well in excess of what these regulations specify and will provide customers who were without power for more than 48 hours with an ex-gratia payment of £75. Customers can claim this by writing to The Claims Department, Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution, Inveralmond House, 200 Dunkeld Road, Perth, PH1 3AQ or by emailing feedback@sse.com. 

The community spirit during the storms was incredible and I would like to thank everybody for the support given to our engineers and teams during these very difficult few weeks. The support we have received means a lot to the teams of people working to deliver a reliable and sustainable electricity supply.

Yours sincerely

Stuart Hogarth
Director of Distribution
Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution