Electricity North West says it is prioritising repairs to restore power to the most customers as quickly as possible as it continues to respond to devastating damage to the power network from Storm Arwen.
Incident manager Clive Wilkinson said: “Every property we’re restoring power to now as part of this heroic effort by our engineers is hard won.
“We’ve had more than 300 separate faults on the network since Friday when usually we get five or six a day. We still have around 150 separate faults to go, each of which need specialist engineering teams to attend to make complex repairs ranging from broken poles to trees on lines and restringing conductors.
“Because the wind was so widespread the sites of damage are miles apart, often in exposed and difficult-to-access areas from Carlisle in Cumbria to Buxton in Derbyshire with trees and sometimes snow blocking access roads.”
Since Friday, it said 80,000 customers have been without power at some stage, with engineers having restored power to more than 63,000 properties so far. It is also dealing with unprecedented numbers of calls from customers trying to get through on its emergency number for updates.
Clive added: “In the past few hours we’ve had more than 33,000 calls from customers.
“We’re doing all we can to prioritise the calls so we can respond to the most critical issues. We’re working closely with our partners in the emergency services and local authorities as we manage this major incident while we focus on restoring power.”
“We’ve brought in extra engineers from across the country to help the massive repair effort, and our main message to customers is that if you see any damaged equipment or lines on the ground, please stay well back and get in touch with us so we can prioritise the repairs.”
Customers without power are encouraged to check www.enwl.co.uk for updates
