Electricity North West says its engineers are “continuing to make progress” repairing the region’s power network which was “dismantled” by Storm Arwen.
The energy supplier worked into the night to restore supplies to more than 104,500 properties across the region. It is understood more than 5,000 properties are still cut off in the county.
Just short of 900 separate incidents of damage have been reported with engineers continuing to describe Storm Arwen as the worst they have ever seen.
Repair work will continue today as even more engineers have been drafted to help restore supplies and food vans and community hubs have been deployed to towns and villages across Cumbria.
Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s Customer Director and Incident Manager, said: “We’re still seeing the huge devastation caused by Storm Arwen after the conditions dismantled large parts of the North West’s power network.
“We’re continuing to source more engineers from across the country each day as we work to restore power supplies to customers as quickly as possible.
“Today, hundreds of engineers are continuing work and we’re also using a helicopter to help us conduct surveys of the overhead power network.
“We’re also continuing to coordinate a multi-agency response including blue light services, the NHS, local councils and other support bodies to assist those customers who need additional support.”
Since Friday, 112,000 properties in the North West have been impacted by Storm Arwen and Electricity North West has restored power to 94 per cent of customers affected.
Its customer contact centre has handled more than 67,000 calls and has also made more than 6,000 calls to its people on its Priority Services register.
As extensive reviews of the network continue, Electricity North West is now able to provide more accurate estimated times of restoration on their website to enable customers who are without electricity to better prepare.
Stephanie Trubshaw added: “Our teams are working as quickly as possible to restore power and I do understand the frustrations of customers.
“We want to provide accurate restoration times for those impacted so alternative arrangements can be made where possible.
“We are continuing to work with our key strategic partners to help support vulnerable customers and we’re also working closely with MPs who are doing a great job in providing us information about new areas where we have been able to provide additional support for customers.”
