Power giant SSEN has said it will invest £12.5million into improving its network in the north-east, after a number of winter storms left households in the area without electricity for days.
Storms including Arwen, Malik and Corrie were among the worst to hit the region in many years, and power lines cut off by strong winds or falling trees meant the impact of the bad weather lasted long after it had subsided.
SSEN sent out helicopters and hundreds of engineers to survey the damage and reconnect supplies, but tens of thousands of people could not access electricity – which also meant no water or heat for some – until several days after each weather event.
The £12.5million which the company plans to invest in the coming financial year is a £3million increase on the current year.
Work to make network ‘robust’
Between now and spring next year, teams will inspect around 1,300 miles of network and clear vegetation away from around 8,000 spans of line.
There will also be a £2million targeted maintenance programme to remove trees from around infrastructure that could be damaged if they are pulled down by high winds.
An SSEN spokesman said: “We recognise that our customers across the north-east of Scotland have faced an incredibly challenging time with several named storms hitting the region since last November, and we would like to reassure them that we are committed to making our network as robust and resilient as possible.
“All of this work is designed to help us to keep the power flowing across all our communities in the north-east all year round.”