A north-east man left without power for nearly 60 hours during Storm Corrie could miss out on compensation – due to a two-hour loophole.
Timothy Ferrari is one of thousands of people who have been cut off during the recent storms in the north-east.
Following Storm Arwen, the Bridge of Alford man received £420 compensation from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN).
During Storm Corrie, when the region was pummelled by 100mph winds, he again lost power for around 56 hours.
But because it was briefly restored for two hours – meaning one power cut of 36 hours and a second of nearly 20 – Mr Ferrari does not believe he will receive any compensation.
SSEN has committed pay-outs will be made to customers left in the dark for a “continuous outage of 48 hours” or more. Those who experienced separate outages that weren’t continuous but add up to 48 hours have been told compensation will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
‘I am a bit cross and that is putting it mildly’
Mr Ferrari, 82, said: “I don’t even think it is worth trying to claim for any compensation as I think I will just receive a statement back telling me my power was off on two separate occasions.
“I am a bit cross and that is putting it mildly, my power was out for around 36 hours and then it returned for two hours before it went out again for nearly 20 more hours.
“If I was in front of an SSE senior figure I might be inclined to accuse them of protecting shareholder’s money rather than paying out for my loss in power.”
In all, more than 115,000 properties across the UK were without power following Storms Malik and Corrie hit the area. Communities were cut off, and relied on hot food trucks and welfare centres to stay warm.
A spokeswoman for SSEN Distribution said that those with a continuous outage for 48 hours could expect to be paid by the end of March, with claims considered on a “case by case basis”.
Mr Ferrari believes the rules about the continuity of the power cut should not matter if customers are left in the dark for extended periods of time.
“The way the power went out makes me wonder if they had turned it back on for a short spell on purpose, before shutting it off again to get out of paying people compensation,” he said.
“Last time during Storm Arwen, SSEN paid out to anyone who had lost power for more than 48 hours, and that has happened again, just with a short break in the middle.”
Costs of ‘food and accommodation’ to be considered
The SSEN spokeswoman said: “We apologise to customers who were disrupted by loss of power during Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie; three of the most extreme weather events to impact the north-east in decades.
“There is an established, industry-wide, process for determining the eligibility and amount of compensation due to customers impacted by severe weather.
“This statutory compensation is eligible to customers who have experienced a continuous outage of 48 hours or over and, for Storms Malik and Corrie, will be paid automatically by the end of March.
“We recognise there may be occasions where customers impacted by recent weather events do not meet the eligibility criteria for statutory compensation and, on those occasions, any claims for reasonable costs for accommodation and meals will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.”
Progress for Arwen compensation
An Aberdeenshire councillor had previously called SSEN’s handling of storm disruption across the region “complacent and corrosive”.
Meanwhile, a Mearns councillor who has been chasing up compensation for his constituents following Storm Arwen, said he was pleased progress has been made.
Leigh Wilson has previously described SSEN’s response to the storms as “inadequate” and hit out at the poor communication to residents, particularly those still pursuing a claim.
However, he said these claims have now been processed – and that some of the delays were down to customer records being out of date.
Mr Wilson added: “Much of Aberdeenshire is particularly rural and many of those who were waiting for compensation claims to be processed were particularly vulnerable.
“It is, of course, a positive outcome that my constituents are now receiving their entitlement but there is still a wider debate to be had, for both the Scottish Government and the energy providers, about how we fully prepare for storm disruption in the future – because if we can be certain of one thing it’s that these events will increase in frequency in the years to come.”
Think you could be eligible for compensation? Click here to find out how to claim.