David Morris MP has today responded to the announcement that Electricity North West have decided not to pay compensation to the 55,000 homes who were effected by power cuts as a result of storm Desmond.
In the latest Electricity North West Press Release (http://www.enwl.co.uk/news-and-press/latest-news/2016/01/12/12-01-15-storm-desmond-our-position-on-compensation) Martin Deehan, North West Operations director said:
“In cases of severe storms such as this, only customers without power continuously for 48 hours - starting when we can access our equipment - automatically qualify for payments.
"Having now analysed each claim, and thanks to the monumental effort of our engineers in extremely difficult circumstances, we do not believe that we have fallen below this standard.
“I understand that this is not the news that many had hoped for, and I apologise that due to the large number of enquiries, and the subsequent bad weather throughout the North West during December, it has taken us longer than we would have liked to get back to customers.
"We will be writing to each customer who has made a claim so that they can use our letter as evidence to claim for any losses as a result of the power cut through their insurance company.”
Following this statement David Morris MP has spoken to Electricity North West at length about the reasons behind their decision. He has been informed that the severity of the storm is decided on by Electricity North West in conjunction with OFGEM their regulator, and is a decision which takes into account the number of homes effected. In this case 55,000 homes were effected and the storm was categorized as severe.
David Morris MP said:
‘I am disappointed Electricity North West have chosen not to compensate customers for the long disruption to their Electricity supply in December. I have looked into the reasons behind their decision and I will today be writing to OFGEM to ask them to reconsider the rules in light of the huge impact the power cut had on the whole area for the entire week we were off mains supply.
I also believe that the 48 hours window should apply until the home is back on full mains power, as when on generators people were asked to use only essential power, which was by no means a full and stable service. I will update everyone when I have received a response, further to my letter with OFGEM I am also in the process of arranging a date when I can meet Electricity North West to ensure that the substation is protected in the future and that this does not happen again.
If anyone believes that their power was off for more than 48 hours consecutively, Electricity North West are asking that you contact them so they can reassess your case, however they do believe that everyone’s power was restored within 48 hours initially.’