SP Energy Networks spokesperson said:

“Over the weekend, Storm Arwen brought winds of over 90mph and, as a result, has caused some of the worst damage to our network we have experienced in over 15 years.

“We apologise to all of our customers who have been affected by the damage, we understand the inconvenience this has caused many households and we appreciate everyone’s patience whilst we continue to try to resolve the ongoing issues.

“Our engineers have been out working since Friday night to try to get power on as quickly and safely as possible, but it has been difficult as the damage across our network has been extensive, we’ve seen over 600 faults in Scotland and 700 in England and Wales. Since the beginning of the storm engineers have reconnected over 150,000 customers.

“In many areas, the damage has been severe due to fallen trees and other wind-blown debris and engineers are also dealing road closures and access challenges making some of our repairs even harder.

“The time it is taking us to get our customers back on is reflective of the number of faults and severity of the damage to the network; where normally we would deal with one or two faults on a line and be able to get a number of customers on, we’re finding several faults on one line and where this is repaired we’re only able to restore power to a small handful of customers.

“We’re continuing to keep our customers up-to-date with our progress and we’re keeping in in touch with our vulnerable customers throughout the day, ensuring they are updated with our progress, organising hot food and drinks and providing other welfare services for them as needed. We are also offering our customers reimbursement for hot food if they continue to be off supply.

“Beyond this, we will be offering accommodation to vulnerable customers tonight if they are likely to still be off supply.”

Current Figures

Scotland

· 4,500 customers, worst affected areas Borders, Dumfriesshire, Fife and Lothians

England and Wales

· 3,600 customers, worst affected areas Dee Valley, Oswestry, Mid Wales and North Wales