Storm Arwen: SSEN works to restore power to customers in the north-east
It follows widespread disruption caused by Storm Arwen on Friday
Last updated 28th Nov 2021
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) is still working to restore power to thousands of customers almost 48 hours after Storm Arwen caused "widespread and extensive damage" in the north-east.
At the peak of the power outage as a result of extreme weather on Friday, almost 110,000 residents were left without any power at all.
The SSEN, which provides the majority of power to the north-east, is expected to restore power to "significant numbers" of customers by the end of today.
As at 2:30pm today, power has been restored to 81,000 customers with 38,000 customers currently off supply in the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Moray areas.
But the energy company, which remains at red alert status, says it "cannot guarantee" that power will be restored today.
The company has warned that it may take several days before all customers are back on supply as teams continue to assess the damage caused and carry out repairs.
Further information will be shared this afternoon on likely restoration times for all customers who remain off supply - including those areas which will not be restored by the end of today.
While originally aiming to have the power restored across the network by 10pm on Saturday, this has now been pushed back to 6pm tonight.
The following welfare facilities have been established to support customers who remain off supply, with additional welfare facilities to be deployed throughout the course of today to areas which continue to be impacted.
- Killin, Main Street near the Town Hall
- Kirriemuir, near Bon Scott Statue
- Cullen, beach front
- Keith, Curry Contractors Yard (outskirts of Keith)
- Kintore, in the square
- Turriff, Tesco car park
- Tarland, in the square
- Additional resources continue to be deployed in response to the major incident, with over 500 field staff concentrated in the areas which continue to be affected, with an additional 150 support staff.
- Helicopters continue to be monitor overhead circuits to assess the extent of damage caused, with extensive mobile generation being deployed to assist with power restoration.
Mark Rough, director of customer operations at SSEN, said: “Our teams are responding to some of the most significant and challenging conditions experienced in the areas affected in decades, with catastrophic damage on several overhead circuits due to multiple instances of damage which need to be repaired before power can be restored.
"To put this is context, the damage caused by Storm Arwen is three times greater than we experienced from the Beast from the East storm in 2018.
“We do expect to make good progress today and restore power to significant numbers of customers who remain off supply.
"However, as it is likely to take several days before each and every customer is restored and the network is back to normal operations, we are this morning giving advance notice to customers who remain off supply, particularly those in rural and isolated communities, that it may take several days before power is restored.
"Those customers may therefore want to consider making alternative arrangements where possible.
“We fully appreciate the challenging situation our customers are facing with another day without power and we would like to apologise again to everyone who has been impacted by Storm Arwen and thank them for their patience as we do everything we can to restore power as quickly as possible.
“We would encourage any customer with a vulnerability who has concerns about remaining off supply, or if you have concerns about a vulnerable relative or neighbour, please give our teams a call on 105.”
A further update will be provided later this afternoon.