Power successfully reconnected to final remaining customers affected by Storm Darragh

As at 14.36pm - Tuesday 10 December 2024

• Power is back on for all customers affected by Storm Darragh.
• Storm Darragh caused 120,000 power cuts for around 80,000 customers.
• We are grateful to our teams for their relentless hard work and dedication and to our customers for their continued support and patience whilst we worked as quickly as possible to get the power back on.

Following the strong winds across our regions throughout Saturday and Sunday, we have successfully restored power to the final remaining customers affected by Storm Darragh.

More than 650 engineers, supported by hundreds more colleagues delivering customer service support from our contact centre, in communities and working behind the scenes in our business, have helped us respond to over 120,000 power cuts affecting 80,000 customers since the storm hit.

Throughout the final stages of the work, we kept our customers updated and offered welfare support including access to hot meals, customer support vehicles to charge devices and get hot drinks and information on local warm hubs in their community. We also offered those customers who were without power for more than 24-hours a £150 contribution towards overnight accommodation and further financial support, where appropriate. We will also be contacting customers directly who are entitled to compensation under our Guaranteed Standards of Service.

Steve McDonald, Northern Powergrid’s Director of Field Operations, said: “Whilst not impacted as much as other parts of the country, Storm Darragh was much more severe than we anticipated. The wind speeds across the whole weekend made it exceptionally challenging for our teams but as soon as it was safe to get out there, we were ready to start repairing the damage caused. The team has done a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances.” 

“We would like to say thank you to our customers for their patience and kind words - especially when it came to understanding the need to keep our people safe.”