Storm Arwen power cuts: Energy minister confronted

The energy minister was confronted by an angry resident over the Storm Arwen power cuts when he visited an area left without electricity since Friday.

Greg Hands was confronted on a visit to St John's Chapel, Weardale, where 3,000 households are without power.

Publican Terr Wood said residents felt abandoned and told Mr Hands to "kick ass" with councils and the government.

Northern Powergrid said 15,000 homes were still off as well as 6,000 Electricity North West customers.

Earlier in the House of Commons Durham's Labour MP Mary Kelly Foy said it was a "national scandal" people were facing "a full seven days without heating or electricity".

Thousands of people without power had been left feeling "forgotten", Tim Farron, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP, said.

Mr Wood, owner of the Blue Bell Inn pub, said: "What I expect from my government is for it to say 'where did it go wrong and how do we know it went wrong?'."

He also said he did not believe Durham County Council had done enough to help people hit by power cuts.

Addressing Mr Hands, he said: "Your role is the local authorities. You have more say over them than we will ever have.

"What are they doing? Nothing - we are five days into this."

In response, Mr Hands said engineers were working hard to reconnect power, with many working 16-hour shifts.

But Mr Wood said: "I don't want to hear that from you.

"You're an MP and I want to hear from you that you are going to go back and - to put it bluntly - kick ass."

Mr Hands added: "We have restored power to 97% of customers.

"It's absolutely crucial that we restore the rest and that's why we've brought in extra people to be able to help Northern Powergrid to get the power up and running.

"Around here there are still about 3,000 still affected and Northern Powergrid said they hope to get that down to a few hundred by the end of today.

"People are working flat-out to make sure people get their electricity reconnected."

Independent councillor John Shuttleworth, of Durham County Council, also criticised the government.

He said: "The government hasn't actually helped.

"It's the county council and the fire and rescue service that have helped, together with co-ordination with Northern Powergrid."

Energy regulator Ofgem said it would examine the speed of energy companies' responses and the resilience of the UK power network in extreme weather.

Sarah Langan, owner of the Chatterbox café in St John's Chapel, said: "We need people who are actually going to do something - not people walking round the village, having a chat and then moving on."

Residents Janice and George Oldham have been going to the Northern Powergrid van where staff have been giving out hot food and drink.

Mr Oldham said: "We ran out of candles, our gas canister gave out.

"We've been cooking with a frying pan on an open log fire and boiling water in a pan on the fire. It's worked, we are not dead - we haven't starved."

Northern Powergrid described the damage as "unprecedented".

Electricity North West said it had reconnected more than 101,000 properties but, as repairs were made, more faults had been discovered.

However, the firm did say it expected all customers to be reconnected by Friday.

The Energy Networks Association (ENA) has urged powerless customers to make alternative arrangements for accommodation, by staying with friends or family wherever possible.

Jessica May Teasdale, 35, who has also been without power since Friday in Stanley, County Durham, said it had been a "nightmare" and said her region had been "abandoned" by the government.

She said: "It's a nightmare… we're inconsolable and scared, are we going to get even more ill to the point where it's pneumonia?

"I was in tears this morning, just thinking, 'is it ever going to end?'.

"Our health is deteriorating each day because we're constantly in the cold."

Earlier in Parliament, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said it was the most severe disruption since 2005 and sought to reassure people who were "exhausted, worried or angry" that everyone was working "incredibly hard" to get the power back on.

A spokesperson for the ENA said: "Supporting and reconnecting customers is our absolute priority and our customer teams are working around the clock to contact customers and keep them informed."

Northern Powergrid said customers would be eligible for compensation.

A payment of £70 per household had been set for the first 24 hours of power loss or 48 if conditions had been severe, as well as £70 for every additional 12-hour period without power.

However, payouts are capped at £700.

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