What action has been taken since Storm Arwen? MPs probe utility providers on resilience and customer communications
The Scottish Affairs Committee will be holding a follow-up evidence session with some of Scotland’s largest utilities providers to understand lessons learned and changes implemented since Storm Arwen.
Meeting details
The session seeks to explore what action SSEN, Scottish Power and Scottish Water have undertaken following reviews of the Storm Arwen response by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Ofgem and the Scottish Government.
The reviews set out a number of recommendations to improve network resilience. For example, BEIS suggested an outcomes-focused physical resilience standard, Ofgem recommended that district network operators submit winter preparedness plans, and the Scottish Government considered what changes there can be to the planning system to enhance resilience. All reviews identified issues with communications with customers.
Storm Arwen brought severe winds across the UK on 26 and 27 November 2021 and caused widespread power outages across parts of Scotland. Ofgem has said that nearly 4,000 households remained off power supply for over a week. Meanwhile, Scottish Water has said that 17,000 of its customers’ connections were impacted by the storm.
Further issues likely to be discussed are the utility providers’ support for vulnerable customers, the risks facing utility networks from future extreme weather events, and the Scottish Government’s new winter preparedness programme, which was launched last year.