Christmas storms 2013: Investigation launched into UKPN and SSE performance
Press release
Publication date
Industry sector
Distribution Network
In December 2013 Great Britain was hit by severe storms that disrupted the power supplies of over two million energy customers. Today we published our initial report reviewing the performance of Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) during that time. DNOs operate the networks that deliver electricity to consumers.
Our initial findings show the speed DNOs restored electricity supplies varied significantly. We are now further investigating UK Power Networks (UKPN) and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) whose response was slowest.
Around one million consumers were without power for at least three minutes, with 95 per cent reconnected within 24 hours. Approximately 16,000 households suffered lengthy cuts of over 48 hours. Of these, more than 500 premises in the UKPN and SSE Southern regions were without supply for over five days.
We are extremely concerned by the level of disruption to electricity supplies and the subsequent distress that the storms caused for consumers.
Lack of consistency
We've found a lack of consistency in how customer enquiries were handled. One in five callers in UKPN and SSE Southern regions hung up before speaking to an adviser, while Western Power Distribution answered calls almost immediately.
We want to understand why it took UKPN and SSE longer and will further investigate their responses in comparison to other DNOs.
While we expect each DNO to take responsibility for their own arrangements, we additionally believe they must collectively learn lessons and identify best practice to better serve consumers in the future. We are therefore requiring all DNOs to review their severe weather procedures and report back to us by 1 May 2014. We will conclude our investigation in July 2014.
Compensating consumers
We will also consult on whether to increase the guaranteed standards payments for consumers whose supply is disrupted during severe weather in future. In particular, for those disconnected for an extended period of time.
DNOs have estimated that 26,000 customers could be entitled to claim £2 million in guaranteed standards payments following the storms, with UKPN and SSE expected to make 26 and 67 per cent of these payments respectively. We welcome that UKPN and SSE have committed to paying an additional £7.5 million to affected customers.
Our role
We set price controls for energy companies to ensure they have sufficient funding to provide a secure network and to put in place measures to respond in cases of severe weather.
We also set guaranteed standards of performance. These govern how quickly companies must respond to restore power in both normal weather and in severe weather conditions. If a DNO fails to meet the standards, the affected customer may be entitled to financial payment. We monitor performance regularly and where companies do not meet targets they are penalised.