SSEN reiterates welfare offering as around 200 remain without power in Moray
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ENERGY company SSEN has reiterated its welfare offering to the final customers across the north-east who are without power after Storm Arwen.
In Moray, around 200 remain without power as of midday on Thursday, with 2400 in Aberdeenshire in the same situation.
Around 1500 customers – including 800 in Moray – had their power restored overnight, with about 1000 field and support staff continuing to work to restore power as quickly as possible.
SSEN hopes that power will be restored to the majority of affected homes by tomorrow – but some customers, who will be contacted by SSEN directly, are set to have to wait until at least Saturday.
Until then, customers without power are being urged to take up SSEN's offer of accommodation and meals.
Since deploying welfare provisions on Sunday, SSEN has served more than 20,000 free meals and 40,000 drinks.
Mark Rough, Director of Operations, said: “Our teams have made further good progress overnight as we continue to work hard to restore power to the remaining customers following the catastrophic impact of Storm Arwen.
“With our teams now close to completing all repairs and restoring power to the high voltage network, we are increasingly turning our focus to the low voltage network, which serves single or groups of homes, often in rural and isolated communities.
“While the low voltage network only serves a fraction of the customers the high voltage network supplies, the repairs required to restore power are just as challenging and complex, which in some cases will require the rebuild of entire sections of overhead line.
“We therefore encourage all customers who remain off supply, particularly where overhead network infrastructure supplies single or small groups of houses, to consider making alternative arrangements.
"This includes our enhanced welfare provisions, with our teams proactively contacting customers to help coordinate support where possible.
“I would like to reassure all customers still off supply that our teams are doing everything they can to restore power as quickly as possible and would once again like to apologise for everyone who has experienced a loss of supply as a result of Storm Arwen.”
Customers seeking alternate accomodation are encouraged to do so themselves and send receipts to SSEN for reimbursement. However, anyone who needs support should call SSEN’s contact centre on 105.
Customers are asked to help keep lines clear by only calling in an emergency and when in genuine need of assistance so that SSEN is able to prioritise support towards customers most in need of help.
As well as accommodation, customers can access SSEN’s welfare facilities for free hot food and drinks, as well as claim the cost of takeaways or meals from local establishments, up to £15 per person.
Storm Arwen has been described as a "once in a generation event" and has resulted in more than five times as many faults as any other weather event in the last 20 years.
Updates are being provided by SSEN several times per day.
