As of 5.30pm today (Friday) the number of customers without power in the North East as a result of last night’s floods and lightning storm stands at 2,450.

The areas most affected are Consett, Stanhope and Alnwick.

Northern Powergrid has cancelled all planned engineering work and staff have been redeployed to ensure that supplies to customers still without power will be restored as soon as possible.

We would like to thank all our customers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience they are experiencing.

Earlier staff from Northern Powergrid took the company’s customer service van to Felling in Gateshead where flooding had brought misery to residents. Residents were given tea and other refreshments (see above photo).

If you are without power, we would like to provide the following advice:

• Turn off electrical appliances at the socket. This is particularly important for heating or cooking appliances as your power could return at any time and potentially cause a safety hazard if you are absent, asleep or unaware.
• Keep one light switched on so that you know when electricity has returned.
• Check on any vulnerable neighbours and relatives to make sure they are comfortable and well.
• Use battery-powered lamps or torches if possible instead of candles as they are safer.
• Only call 999 in the event of an emergency.

Please contact our power cut helpline on 0800 668877 anytime night or day if your power supply has been affected.

ENDS
 

Notes to editor:
Northern Powergrid is the electricity distribution business for Northeast England, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire. The company is responsible for delivering power safely and reliably to the 3.8 million electricity domestic and business customers in this area and operates through its subsidiaries, Northern Powergrid (Northeast) Ltd and Northern Powergrid (Yorkshire) plc. Northern Powergrid is a wholly owned subsidiary of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company. Northern Powergrid’s network consists of more than 31,000 substations, 29,000 kilometres of overhead line and 62,000 kilometres of underground cable, covering an area of more than 25,000 square kilometres. Northern Powergrid is leading moves towards a low carbon electricity network through the UK’s largest smart grid project, ‘the customer-led network revolution’. Information on Northern Powergrid is available at www.northernpowergrid.com