Kwarteng orders review into energy companies over Storm Arwen failings
The energy Secretary has taken aim at power companies over failures to solve outages caused by Storm Arwen.
Kwasi Kwarteng warned power firms the Government will review their operations following continuing outages caused by Storm Arwen nine days ago. Thousands of homes in the North East remain without power more than a week after winds of 98mph tore down lines causing disruption to supply.
During a visit to a Northern Powergrid call centre yesterday Kwarteng said: “I think we can make the system a lot more resilient.
“We will have a review, we will see if the distributor companies have enough infrastructure, we may even have enforcement action if necessary,” said Kwarteng in comments to PA media, hinting that the government is prepared to take stringent action over the failure to restore power.
“We will do all we can to make it a much more resilient system,” he continued.
The comments come after Kwarteng confirmed that 99.6 per cent of homes affected by power outages are back online. The Business Secretary said it was “frustrating” that over 3,000 homes are still without power in the North East.
On Saturday, Northern Powergrid apologised to residents over poor communication throughout the crisis. Regulator Ofgem agreed with electricity companies to lift the £700 cap on compensation for customers “as a gesture”, as it criticised the lack of communication with customers.
The army has been helping to bring supplies to residents who have been cut off by damage to the network caused by the Storm Arwen.
Read more: Energy firms face action after restoration delays following Storm Arwen