Power company say Aberdeenshire homes back on grid soon
Around 800 homes remain affected by Storm Gerrit
Engineers say they expect to reconnect any homes in the North East still without power later today.
Around 800 households have spent another night off the grid in the wake of Storm Gerrit.
SSEN said the extent of the storm damage, mostly due to flooding and access issues, means some customers will remain off supply until Friday.
Teams are working into the early hours of Friday to clear debris which is hindering repairs, and SSEN staff are contacting customers to provide updated estimates for power restoration and welfare checks.
Welfare vans serving free hot food and drink have closed for the evening but will reopen at around 9am on Friday in the following locations:
- Formantine United FC car park, Old Meldrum Road, Pitmedden, AB41 7PA
- Riggs car park, Fort Augustus, PH32 4DF
- Glengarry Parish Church, Invergarry, PH35 4HJ
- Dunecht Village Hall, Westhill, AB32 7AW
- Hatton of Fintray, Aberdeenshire, AB21 0YG
- The Square, Tarland, AB34 4YL
- Bellabeg, Strathdon (opposite the local shop), AB36 8UL
- Public Hall, High Street, Sandhaven, Fraserburgh, AB43 7EQ
- Aberlour Parish Church car park, 7 Victoria Terrace, AB38 9PW
- Car park beside the football pitch, Halkirk, KW12 6YJ
- Bridge of Cally Village Hall, Braemar Road, PH10 7JL
As part of SSEN's support package, customers who will be without 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.
Customers on SSEN's Priority Service Register (PSR) can claim reasonable costs for alternative accommodation if they expect to be without power for more than 24 hours.
Those not on the PSR who expect to be without power for longer than 48 hours can also benefit from this.
Andy Smith, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: "As stormy conditions have subsided, we've been able to get thousands of customers safely reconnected.
Difficult for communities
"This has been a difficult couple of days for the communities affected, and I'm grateful to them for their patience and support as our teams work extremely hard to restore power.
"We've targeted our restoration plan on repairing the faults that will reconnect the greatest number of customers, and those who have been without power the longest.
"Where there are complex repairs or very localised faults, we expect around 1,500 homes will be without power overnight. I'd like to reassure our customers that all our resources have been made available for this final push.
"Our established welfare policy is active, offering reimbursement for meals and accommodation, for those who're eligible, and we're speaking to our most vulnerable customers to offer them tailored support.
"Anyone who may need additional help or advice should contact our dedicated teams on the power cut helpline, 105."