Eleven thousand homes are without power in one part of the country after the ferocious Storm Éowyn hit today (Friday 24 January).
The blackout in Dumfries and Galloway is far from the only place where power has been lost. An estimated further 10,000 people have no power in Ayrshire, East Lothian Falkirk and the Scottish Borders, according to SP Energy Networks.
Energy suppliers Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) have increased their response teams to “10 times the usual levels” and are battling up to 114mph winds to get supply back up.
While they hope to have power back by 9pm tonight (Jan 24), you might be entitled to compensation if your home was affected and if you end up with no power for more than 24 hours.
Advice Direct Scotland, which runs the national advice services consumeradvice.scot and energyadvice.scot, said that compensation depends on the classification of the storm. There are two storm categories and they’re different to the storm categories issued by the Met Office.
They said Storm Éowyn will likely be classed as a Category 2 event. If it is, and you are without power for 48 hours, initial compensation would be £80, with an additional £40 for every six hours without power, up to a maximum of £2,000.
However Ofgem state that if the power cut is because of disruption to the national energy supply, you will not be entitled to compensation. This is because it is not due to a fault on the network.
For gas cuts, consumers might be entitled to compensation if the supply is cut off for more than 24 hours, receiving £60 after the first 24 hours and another £60 for each following 24-hour period.
The gas network operator should contact consumers directly, but no compensation will be given if more than 30,000 homes were affected, the consumer caused the cut-off, or the operator took reasonable steps to prevent it.
If your gas was cut off, contact your gas network operator to find out how many homes were affected and if reasonable steps were taken to prevent it.
Ofgem have given advice on how to claim compensation and say that usually your network operator will arrange for you to get any compensation payments you are entitled to.
Payments are usually automatic, but if you think you are eligible for compensation you can also contact your network operator. You can Find your network operator on the Energy Networks Association website.
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