SSEN confident all households will be reconnected by Sunday
TEAMS from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution continue to make good progress in restoring power to the remaining properties that lost electricity following Monday’s snow fall and line icing.
The company said that of the 350 households still without power on Saturday afternoon a further 200 at Clousta, Greenvale and Walls could potentially be re-connected later on Saturday.
That would leave just 150 properties at Murrister and Snarraness to be last to have their power restored by Sunday afternoon.
SSEN said its 160 strong team had been making significant progress and were ahead of its initial estimated timetable for restoration.
Today (Saturday), people in Effirth, Gauderhouse, Wethersta and Stabaness got their power back.
Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart has been out at Effirth today to see the ongoing work for herself.
Meanwhile, SSEN confirmed that customers who have experienced power interruptions of over 48 hours will receive £70 in compensation. A further £70 will be paid for every additional 12-hour period. Payments will be done automatically. More details here:
Head of region at SSEN Distribution Mark Macdonald said: “With additional crews on Shetland today to bolster our army of engineers, we continue to make excellent progress ahead of our forecasts, restoring power to 350 properties through the course of the day.
“Our teams will continue to work throughout the evening and will be back out at first light tomorrow to push on with the final restoration effort.
“Barring no unforeseen challenges, we’re confident we can restore power to all remaining properties by Sunday afternoon.
“We understand the challenges communities are facing after days without power and would like to thank Shetland Islands Council, our resilience partners and local communities for their ongoing support in coordinating warm hubs for local residents.”
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Macdonald reminded customers that some properties may need to be temporarily disconnected for a short period of time as additional repaired sections are being added to the network.
“This is necessary to avoid the risk of overloading the circuit and damage to our equipment which would lead to a longer power interruption for our customers.
“We’re proactively contacting customers due to be impacted by temporary disconnections as soon as we possibly can and are signposting to local welfare hubs providing hot drinks and a warm space.”
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