Northern Powergrid deny being offered military assistance during Storm Arwen
45,000 people across the UK are still without power
Last updated 1st Dec 2021
Northern Powergrid is denying claims by North West Durham MP Richard Holden that it declined an offer of military assistance during Storm Arwen.
The Conservative MP brought up the issue in the House of Commons yesterday - warning that thousands of his constituents - and many more around Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, Teesside and County Durham could face weeks without power.
In Parliament Mr Holden said: "My understanding is that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy offered military aid to the civil authorities - MACA - this weekend, but that Northern Powergrid refused it."
But a Northern Powergrid spokeswoman said "no offer of military assistance was made and, therefore, no refusal given".
"Early on Saturday morning, we participated in an industry mutual aid call. Through this voluntary arrangement, we have utilised specialist engineering resources and equipment from UK Power Networks, Northern Ireland Electricity and National Grid Transmission, with their teams helping us restore power to customers after the impact of Storm Arwen," the spokeswoman added.
"We have a well established and practised protocol of participating in Local Resilience Forums during major incidents and this is the process where such a request would usually be made or assistance offered. We have made due checks and can confirm that no offer was made or refused."
The denial comes as 20,000 people remain without power after Storm Arwen wreaked havoc across much of the UK, bringing strong winds, sleet and snow.
Thousands still without electricity five days later
Northern Powergrid says engineers from all over the country are helping to restore power to homes in the North East, Teesside and County Durham.
240,000 people across the region were left with no electricity after Storm Arwen hit last Friday.
Northern Powergrid worker Jim Cardwell said: "We have successfully restored 90% of those supplies, and we're now working on the remaining 20,000 of our customers who are without electricity.
"Storm Arwen has created significant damage for our network and affected the power supplies through damage caused by high winds, debris blown by the wind, and tress blowing into our lines. What we're doing now is repairing those lines and doing temporary fixes where we can where it's more expedient to get that network back up.
"We've been supporting our customers by linking up with other members of the local resilience forums, looking at the disruption that's been caused by a loss of power, and working with agencies like the British Red Cross to assist those people who are more vulnerable to power cuts."
Workers from Northern Powergird have been working to restore power to the most vulnerable people in the region after stating that the North East is one of the worst affected areas in the UK.
"The storm has caused significant damage over large areas of the North East and Yorkshire, but particularly areas of Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and also the highland of West Yorkshire", added Jim.
"We're working firstly on those area where we know we can get a repair done, that can affect more people and get more people on, and then working through more of the minor repairs on the network. What this is meaning is that we're working as fast as we can to keep them lights back on and keep our customers informed in the meantime."
"I have never known anything like this"
The ENA has urged powerless customers to make alternative arrangements for accommodation, by staying with friends or family wherever possible.
Gemma Douglas, from West Allerdean, Northumberland, said she had "never seen anything like this" here.
"It has been exhausting... trying to keep warm, cook, is hard work. I have never known anything like this," the 39-year-old project development officer said.
Forestry England has also urged people to stay away from its woods in much of northern England in the aftermath of Storm Arwen