I appreciate how frustrating it is to be on day 6 without power - I too am on day 6 without power - this is a mammoth operation, I am continuing to push for things to go as fast as possible, but I am grateful to the teams out working hard to get us reconnected.
Current situation
We are now down to around 5,000 properties to be connected, across the entire county of Northumberland. 2,000 of those are estimated to be in my constituency, that includes me, I too am on day 6 of no power.
Yesterday I spent the day out with some of the crews in both the contact centre and out repairing the damage. Electrical engineers have been drafted in from across the UK. The team I met in Bamburgh yesterday had come over from Northern Ireland to help. They were working in incredibly dangerous conditions (50mph winds in the dark) to get us connected again - a big thank you to them all.
Welfare
Project teams comprising Northern Powergrid, Local Resilience Forums, Northumberland County Council and emergency services have been deployed to areas still impacted focusing on visiting all those off supply to provide information and signpost them to support and welfare measures in place.
If you are worried about friends and family, please ask them to get in touch either with Northumberland County Council or with my team. We can arrange a welfare check.
You can contact NCC via:
Contact Centre (for general queries): 0345 6006400
Northumberland Communities Together (for anyone struggling with food supplies or other essentials) Mon-Fri 9am - 6pm: 01670 620015
One Call (for concerns about vulnerable residents or safeguarding issues): 01670 536400
Community Hubs
A number of Community Hubs are currently in operation across the affected areas for people needing support after Storm Arwen.
The below list which also describes the offers, is accurate as of 2.30pm 2 Dec:
Rothbury – Jubilee Hall – hot food / warmth / phone charging
Wooler – Angel Inn – hot food / warmth / phone charging
Berwick – Leisure Centre - showers
Belford - NPG Welfare Van deployed (NE70 7NF)
Longhoughton – Community Centre – hot food / showers / warmth / charging
Ulgham – Women's Institute – hot food / drink / warmth / phone charging
Longhorsley - Village Hall - hot food / warmth / phone charging
Alternative accommodation and food
If you are not able to stay with a family member or friend PLEASE take advantage of the reimbursement offer form Northern Powergid as below:
If any customer is without power and is unable to make alternative arrangements to stay with family or a friend, Northern Powergrid will reimburse all reasonable costs for alternative accommodation:
- Customers who can coordinate this themselves are encouraged to do so, being asked to keep receipts and to send details of costs incurred to Northern Powergrid’s dedicated email address [email protected]
- Anyone who may need support in arranging alternative accommodation should call the 105 power cut number
Customers can also continue to access Northern Powergrid’s welfare facilities for free hot food and drinks, as well as claim the cost of takeaways or meals from local establishments, up to £15 per person per meal. Other reasonable costs incurred by customers impacted by Storm Arwen will also be considered and customers are asked to retain their receipts in order to obtain reimbursement.
Scottish Power
We had a good call this morning, they believe there are around 100 homes in the Berwick area yet to be reconnected. My concern is this figure could be higher.
If you are a Scottish Power customer, and you have not reported your outage to them, please call 105 or 0800 092 9290.
As with Northern Powergrid, if you or anyone you know is out of power, is a Scottish Power customer and needs extra help, please contact my team, we have a hotline to feed that in.
They are operating a similar reimbursement offer to Northern Powergrid. They are also providing hotel accommodation and meals, please keep your receipts if you have arranged your own.