Upwards of half a million customers across the southern UK were cut off supply after heavy winds damaged power lines in the two days before Christmas. The majority were back online within hours, but tens of thousands remained without power on Christmas Day.
UK Power Networks reported more than 300,000 homes experienced power cuts across its networks. Southern Electric Power Distribution reported supply interruptions to 130,000 properties and Western Power Distribution 120,000 customers.
UKPN and SEPD promised to pay out £75 to those still cut off on Christmas Day, regardless of the length of the interruption. That is more than the statutory minimum, which kicks in after 48 hours off supply at £27. WPD restored power to all customers within that timescale.
Basil Scarsella, chief executive of UKPN, admitted to the Mail on Sunday the response had not been as fast as it could have been, as many staff were on holiday. “We could and should have done more,” he said. “It’s difficult to justify saying the company has performed well when customers have been without power for five days but once we had an idea of how bad it was we were able to mobilise as many engineers and office staff as possible.”
Mark Mathieson, managing director of networks at SEPD, said he was “immensely proud” of the 500 staff who worked “with determination and dedication” over the festive period to restore supplies. The company “felt very prepared” for storms but “we cannot wave a magic wand when major weather events hit”, he said.
Ofgem partner Ian Marlee told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the regulator will be asking questions of electricity network businesses about their handling of the outages.
Meanwhile, the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee is understood to be planning an inquiry into electricity networks. Tim Yeo, the committee chair, has claimed the networks “can get away with murder and they probably do”, due to a lack of scrutiny.
It comes as the majority of electricity distribution network operators (DNOs) are revising their business plans for 2015-23, to be resubmitted to Ofgem in March for approval. In November, Ofgem announced Western Power Distribution would be fast-tracked through the RIIO-ED1 price review process.