The electricity supplier for the North East says it could have been better at talking to customers.
Image source, PA Media
An energy firm has apologised for poor communication with households struck by more than a week of power cuts after Storm Arwen.
As of 22:00 GMT on Friday, Northern Powergrid said it had restored power to 98% of homes affected across the North East, but 5,100 remained cut off.
The firm previously warned some could be without power until Wednesday, 12 days after the storm’s 98mph winds tore down electricity lines.
In Cumbria, 350 homes remain cut off.
About 1,250 homes in Scotland are also without power, while a £700 cap on compensation has been lifted allowing all those affected to claim £70 for each 12-hour period they are left without power – after an initial £70 for the first 48 hours.
Northern Powergrid has been criticised by some home owners – especially in remote parts of County Durham and Northumberland – who have been unable to speak to the firm or get updates on when their power would be restored.
A spokeswoman for the firm said: “As well as creating enormous challenges for us in terms of the engineering work we have to do to respond, the scale of the disruption has made it very challenging for us to communicate effectively with our customers.
“We have heard that loud and clear – and we are sorry that we weren’t able to do better in that respect.”
She said engineers now had a “much clearer picture of the repairs needed” although “it’s not perfect” and “we will still find some surprises”.
The firm said it had about 700 jobs to complete and their “best estimate right now is that the last of that work will be completed on Wednesday”.
Image source, PA Media
Major incidents were declared in County Durham and Northumberland with the Army being deployed to help residents.
In Cumbria, Paul Bircham, from Electricity North West, said all properties should be restored by the end of the weekend, with more than 1,000 being reconnected overnight.
He told BBC Radio Cumbria the remaining properties included holiday lets and second homes, hence a delay in them being reported to the firm.
Overnight repairs had been hit by some problems though, with a a restored line in Crosthwaite being taken back down by another falling tree, but he said: “We will make more connections this morning.”
Mr Bircham also said there were other “business as usual” power cuts caused by damage unrelated to the storm, which the firm was fixing.
“We have a good track of which are the longstanding faults and what to put to the top of our priority list,” Mr Bircham said, adding: “We will be working to strengthen the repairs we have made and rebuild the line.”
Energy watchdog Ofgem has said it will review the response of the power companies to the damage caused by Storm Arwen.
Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.
How have you been affected by the power cuts? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:
If you are reading this page and can’t see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.