SSEN restores power to over 120,000 homes to respond to the impact of Storm Eunice

As of 8.30am today, power has been restored to over 120,000 homes across its operating area.

The storm, which is considered to be the worst to impact the south of England in over 30 years, brought wind gusts of 80mph.

This has resulted in over 1,000 points of damage on the overhead line network, well over 100 times that of an average day, with multiple points of damage caused by fallen and uprooted trees.

Richard Gough, director of distribution system operations, said: “The hurricane-force winds of Storm Eunice have resulted in some of the most extreme and challenging conditions experienced in the south of England for decades, with significant impact on our overhead line network and multiple instances of damage in many areas.

“Our teams continue to work hard in very challenging conditions to restore power as quickly and as safely as possible with good progress made since winds subsided yesterday evening. We expect to make continued good progress today, but restoration efforts will be extensive and, as we continue to uncover further damage, we expect the restoration of some localised faults to extend into early next week.

“We apologise to our customers for the continued disruption and reassure them that we are making every effort to restore their power, while giving them the best available information in order to make informed choices. We are also prioritising support for our most vulnerable customers, working closely with our local resilience partners.

“We continue to urge people not to approach any damage to our equipment and instead, report it by calling 105 or logging on our Power Track App and engineers will investigate as soon as possible.”

The following welfare facilities have been established to provide free hot food and drinks to customers who remain off supply: The Green, Whitchurch, Hampshire – RG28 7LU and Chapel Road, Swanmore, Hampshire – SO32 2QA.