Thousands of customers received “unacceptable service” after Hurricane Arwen, the UK’s energy watchdog found.
The storm hit the country in November, leaving nearly a million homes without electricity and some 4,000 having to face “appalling conditions” for more than a week.
Ofgem launched a six-month review of how the industry handled the situation and has now released its findings.
He ruled that some of the affected customers had been without electricity for “an unacceptable amount of time, received poor communication from their network operator and the compensation payments took too long”.
He added: “28% of customers were given a restore time that was not within 24 hours of their actual restore time, and some affected customers did not believe that the available support was make it clear “.
However, he also found that distribution network companies (DNOs) started their contingency plans before the storm arrived, but these “were not enough” to deal with the scale of the damage caused.
Northern Powergrid was named as one of these companies, and Ofgem found that it was unable to perform all of its functions under its own winter readiness campaign.
The company also failed to contact vulnerable customers directly, who had to receive additional support during a power outage, and its call center “fell short” of expected standards.
As a result of the problems, three DNOs – Northern Powergrid, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and North West Electricity – have already paid close to £ 30 million in direct compensation to their affected customers, but all have agreed to pay £ 10.3 million additional on a voluntary basis. offset payments, Ofgem said.
They will be made through “contributions to community funds and donations to vulnerability support organizations.”
Use the Chrome browser to get a more accessible video player
0:33 Trees felled by storm Arwen
“Frequency of extreme weather events will only increase”
Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley said: “Distribution networking companies faced difficult conditions after the Arwen storm, and paid tribute to the many colleagues in those companies who supported customers. and they worked to get them back to power as soon as possible.
“However, it was unacceptable for nearly 4,000 households in parts of England and Scotland to be without electricity for more than a week, often without accurate information on when electricity would be restored.”
He added that companies “need to do better” to avoid power outages, restore electricity more quickly and keep customers informed with “accurate and timely information”.
“The frequency of extreme weather events will only increase, so it’s really important that the industry, and those involved more widely, learn from Storm Arwen to respond better in the future,” he concluded.
During the storm, most of the grid failures were caused by strong winds or trees and branches that fell on the power lines.
Ofgem found “some correlation between the poles that were damaged and their age,” but suggested that this requires “additional research.”
Image: Storm Arwen left many homes without electricity. Image: Northern Powergrid
What happens now?
Following its review, Ofgem has made 20 recommendations to DNOs to ensure that customers receive better service during severe weather.
These include stress testing on their websites and call centers, the development of “stronger mechanisms” to deal with compensation payments, and the submission of their winter readiness plans to energy surveillance.
He also recommended that the infrastructure and network guidance, such as the design of overhead power lines, be reviewed to see if there is a way to increase their weather resistance.