Power has successfully been restored to thousands of homes that were cut off during Storm Babet – with customers able to claim back compensation.
Thousands of homes across the north and north-east experienced a loss of supply as Storm Babet caused major disruption.
SSEN engineers worked around the clock to restore electricity in almost 4,000 homes across Aberdeenshire, Angus and Perthshire regions.
Storm Babet has been described as being one of the most challenging storms the network has faced in recent years.
SSEN restores power to 37,000 customers
In total, SSEN restored supplies to 37,000 customers, with more than two-thirds of them being re-connected within 3 hours. Over 450 network faults over the past three days has also been fixed.
In mobilising its response, SSEN deployed a six-hundred strong team, ten times the size of its normal day-to-day operations, which enabled faults to be fixed quickly and safely.
HOMES RECONNECTED AFTER STORM BABET:
SSEN has now restored power to all customers who lost supply during Storm Babet.
Thank you for being patient while we did this quickly and safely in challenging conditions. pic.twitter.com/lrtsaOtql0
— Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (@ssencommunity) October 22, 2023
Teams proactively supported customers throughout the weather event, prioritising the most vulnerable communities. This included an extensive on-the ground welfare operation, serving more than 2,000 hot meals to people in affected areas.
SSEN Distribution teams continue to work as part of the Local Resilience Partnership to support people in Brechin.
150 properties in Brechin still without power
The remaining floodwater in the town, and the damage within properties, means connections cannot be restored safely at this time to around 150 properties.
SSEN is working closely with authorities through the Local Resilience Partnership to understand when power can be restored safely.
Andy Smith, operations director at SSEN Distribution, says: “This was a damaging storm, but I am proud of our strong, decisive response.
“I would like to thank our customers for their patience while we’ve worked tirelessly to get them reconnected. We’ve got connections restored quickly and safely, while supporting all of our customers, in particular the most vulnerable, and the few who’ve faced prolonged outages.
“I am grateful to our teams here at SSEN Distribution for their hard work and support, and I’d also like to thank our contractors, network partners and our fellow members of the Local Resilience Partnership for their unwavering support during this period.”
Customers able to claim back compensation
As part of their support package for customers impacted by power cuts during Storm Babet, some customers may be able to claim back compensation.
People who had no 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.
Residents should keep hold of receipts and claim costs back at www.ssen.co.uk/stormclaim
Once final fault assessments are carried out, any customers impacted for over 48 hours will be entitled to compensation under the regulated Guaranteed Standards of Performance.
For power interruptions over 48 hours, customers will receive £80, with a further £40 for every subsequent six hour period they were off supply (up to a maximum of £2000).
Customers do not need to contact SSEN to request compensation. This process is automatic and will be processed as quickly as possible in the weeks after the event.
Further information can be found here.