NORTHERN POWERGRID RESTORES POWER TO 90% OF CUSTOMERS AFTER STORM ARWEN

As at 12:30pm

Northern Powergrid, the electricity distribution network operator for the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire, has its teams, alongside more than 100 engineers from UK Power Networks, Northern Ireland Electricity and National Grid Transmission, continuing work today to get power back on for customers hit by Storm Arwen.

The electricity distributor has restored power to 220,000 of the 240,000 homes and business impacted by the storm and has worked into the night and then from first light today with again more than 2,000 people supporting the response in the field and behind the scenes.

Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s Major Incident Manager, said: “All of our teams are continuing to work extremely hard to restore power to our customers. We still have some work to do in the North and West Yorkshire areas, but the vast majority of our remaining work is now in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham areas.

“We have some large sections of overhead line that will need to be rebuilt in order to return supplies back to normal. We have three helicopters in the sky today which continue to be invaluable in patrolling the long length of overhead line in order to locate the damage and coordinate repairs.

“We have significant damage to extensive sections of overhead line in the Wear valley, around Eastgate and beyond that feeds around 2,000 homes and businesses that requires a major work or rebuild. We have set up a dedicated engineering resource and a front line customer welfare task force as well as coordinating with local authorities and community partners in the area to assist our response.

“We fully understand and appreciate peoples’ growing frustrations and we are very sorry for the continued impact to our customers’ lives and we thank them for their continued patience and understanding.” 

Northern Powergrid’s customer support vehicles continue to be about in communities, supporting customers with access to hot water, drinks, mobile phone charging and winter warmer packs.  The network operator is continuing to work with the British Red Cross and multi-agency partners, as part of Local Resilience Forums, to support the most vulnerable members in the worst affected communities.

The electricity distributor network operator has set up a dedicated email address and team for customers to provide their most up-to-date contact details to subscribe to their update service. Please email StormArwen@NorthernPowergrid.com with full name, address and mobile telephone number.  

Northern Powergrid continues to work closely with its local resilience partners to prioritise support for its most vulnerable customers. Any customer with a vulnerability who is concerned about remaining off supply, or if you have concerns about a vulnerable relative or neighbour, should contact us on 105.

The company has reinforced the importance that local people who spot any damaged cables or equipment must not approach the area as equipment may still be live and pose a risk of electrocution. Customers must contact the company immediately by calling 105.