SCOTTISH and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has said teams across Scotland are making continued progress to reconnect customers who lost electricity supplies because of damage caused by Storm Floris.
As of Tuesday afternoon, power had been restored to more than 68,000 customers. Work is ongoing to reconnect a further 3400 properties and support customers who are still without power.
Tuesday's relatively calm weather allowed SSEN’s field team to conduct a full assessment of the network, and the damage that’s been done by the storm.
It was carried out with the aid of two helicopters which have been conducting extensive inspections from above.
The damage to the network has been considerable, the operator said.
An 800-strong team is leading SSEN’s response to Storm Floris:
- More than 500 of SSEN’s engineers and field staff – including teams who have travelled up from SSEN’s south of England network region – are being supported by almost 200 people from contract partners and other network operators.
- Nearly 100 call handlers and social media staff – four times usual staffing levels – are on duty in the Customer Contact Centre to answer queries. More than 13,000 calls have been taken since the storm began; on average these have been answered in around 90 seconds.
- Dozens of additional staff are co-ordinating and delivering a comprehensive welfare operation, arranging for the provision of hot meals and overseeing house calls in communities awaiting reconnection.
At the height of summer, trees are in full leaf, making them heavier, and more susceptible to blowing over in storm-force gusts.
Complex repairs will be needed at multiple points on the network, SSEN has said, and fallen trees which are causing access challenges are being overcome with the help of an enlarged specialist tree-cutting team.
Free hot meals at dozens of locations
SSEN has also been providing free hot meals in more than a dozen affected locations.
Hot food vans have been serving food a number of communities, while in other areas agreements have been made with local businesses to provide catering.
As part of SSEN’s support package, customers without power for more than 12 hours are entitled to £30 per person for every day without power, to cover the cost of food and drink.
SSEN’s director of customer operations for the north of Scotland, Andy Smith, said: “Storm Floris has been unusually powerful, especially for a storm at this time of year. It’s brought down many trees that have endured several previous storms, and it’s caused some network damage.
“Today, we’ve been able to inspect the network from the air and from the ground, and we now have a complete picture of the extent of the damage. There’s a considerable ongoing task to restore all customers’ supplies, but we have an 800-strong team whose priority is to make repairs as safely and quickly as they can, keep customers updated, and support those awaiting reconnection.
“I’d like to thank our customers for their understanding and patience while we go about this massive task; we’re doing our best to give people realistic, informed estimates of when we’ll get their power back on. I’m also grateful to the teams from our contract partners and other network operators for supporting our effort.”
