Power companies slammed for poor lack of communication informing households left without electricity
MSPs want power companies to identify the most vulnerable during lengthy blackouts.
Last updated 28th Jan 2025
As the lights come back on for the final few households cut off by Storm Éowyn - power companies are being urged to identify the most vulnerable during lengthy blackouts.
Last night SP Energy Networks said it was working to restore supplies to around 800 Dumfries and Galloway customers still without power.
However, Dumfriesshire MSP David Mundell is fearful elderly households are "slipping through the net".
He says telling them to check online isn't an option for some:
“We’ve got to look at the services that we are providing to older people because it’s not good enough just to say to people to just go online when they don’t have any electricity or in the habit of doing that.”
During interviews earlier this week, a couple in their late 80s living in Johnstonebridge near Lockerbie told Greatest Hits Radio when they phoned up, they often dealt with pre-recorded messages and were then put on hold for a minimum of 30 minutes before speaking with a human at SP Energy Network call centre and often the line was disconnected before reaching that stage.
Mundell adds that when he spoke with his constituents, many of them were not given any indication of when the power would be restored.
“We need to have better phone responses. I think Scottish Power themselves would accept that some of the times that they took to reply to phone calls were not good enough, and that needs to be looked at to be improved.”
South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth echoes these views and says it’s about time power companies learn from previous storms.
“I’m angry that promises to learn lessons from Storm Arwen haven’t been delivered, especially when it comes to keeping customers informed with accurate information. It is time for a review of emergency procedures to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.
“We all accept that power cuts will happen in extreme weather, especially in a rural area, but it is imperative that people are kept informed with accurate information.”
He adds that some of his constituents told him that the information they were given was often changed.
“It’s not acceptable, especially when some have been without power for days on end and they were still in the dark, both literally and figuratively.
“What has been especially frustrating for many is the fact they were given times to be reconnected, but these were continuously changed, often several times and by a few days, with some still not reconnected four days after the damage was done.”
SP Energy Network (SPEN) says Dumfries and Galloway was the worst affected area in central and southern Scotland with more than 45,000 customers in the region losing their power supply as a result of storm damage.
In those electricity network areas, SPEN call centre colleagues have handled over 92-thousand calls which is the equivalent of three months' worth of calls in four days.
SP Energy Networks CEO, Nicola Connelly said: “There has been absolutely no let-up in our efforts since first thing on Friday to restore power as quickly and safely as possible to the thousands of customers affected by Storm Eowyn.
“We’ve used every resource at our disposal and drafted in people and resources from across the country – and other companies – to tackle every single fault and we’ve made positive progress, with more than 99% of our customers back on supply.
“We’re now in that final stretch to get all remaining customers back on. While the numbers off have reduced, we’re still managing almost 200 individual faults in Dumfries & Galloway alone.
“That means, on average, we’re restoring a handful of customers at a time, which is one of the biggest challenges we have at this point in our response. Every customer back on supply is a step in the right direction, but every job takes time.
“Our teams are also continuing to face what’s called ‘nested’ faults – several faults on a single circuit, which only come to light when we fix the initial one.
“I’m grateful to our customers for their patience and resilience. We will not stop until the lights are back on for every single one of them.”
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