Storm Arwen: Power-cut compensation may take three months, says minister

Hundreds of thousands of people hit by power cuts caused by Storm Arwen may have to wait up to three months for compensation, the government has said.

Northern Powergrid said 1,000 customers were still without power on Monday after winds knocked out 240,000 homes and caused major damage on 26 November.

The prime minister said they would be reconnected by Tuesday "at the latest".

It comes amid the onset of Storm Barra, which will bring yellow warnings for wind and snow.

Boris Johnson said he spoke to Northern's chief executive Phil Jones on Monday and that he had been told of the new target - power was originally set to be restored "by the end of" last week.

Posting on Twitter, he said he was "assured" the affected properties would be reconnected "tomorrow at the latest".

"I also asked for assurances that the energy supply companies were putting in place measures to limit any potential further disruption to households as a result of Storm Barra," he added.

Energy minister Greg Hands said he hoped compensation payments could be made "quicker".

"As I understand it, most of that process is paid automatically," he said.

"It does take some time to process, though. It may take up to three months, I am told. I hope it can be quicker and I am sure we can put that view across to the company."

Meanwhile in a joint statement, two Conservative MPs for north-east England, Richard Holden (North West Durham) and Dehenna Davison (Bishop Auckland) called the delay "utterly unacceptable".

They added it was time for Northern Powergrid "to step up and ensure that all our constituents get the compensation they deserve as soon as possible".

Wansbeck Labour MP Ian Lavery said he was "absolutely astonished" at the timeframe for compensation and claimed it was "an insult" that people would have to wait so long.

A £700 cap on compensation has been lifted allowing all those affected to claim £70 for each 12-hour period they are left without power - after an initial £70 for the first 48 hours.

Electricity North West has now reconnected all occupied homes in Cumbria, while in Scotland, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said power had been restored to all 135,000 of its customers.

But others in the north-east of England are still battling on without power, after winds of up to 98mph battered parts of the region.

Stewart Sexton, who lives in Alnwick, Northumberland, said he was exhausted by the wait for his electricity to be restored.

"It's wearing us down, and it's a constant worry. Every day seems to bring a new problem."

Mr Sexton said he had also been hit by floods which, coupled with a house with no heating, made for an "awful" situation.

He said he had been showering with water heated on a wood-burning stove in his living room, and travelling 12 miles to his sister's home.

"We have not got any hope at all," Mr Sexton said, adding: "It's awful, it's the futility of it."

Anna Elson, 49, also from Alnwick, said she is travelling to a family member's home with her 13-year-old son to avoid spending an 11th night without heating.

"The village was left to cope on its own for too long, there are a few medically vulnerable residents here, including me," she said.

Ms Elson and her son have rheumatoid arthritis, which is worsened by the cold.

"No phone signal doesn't help and makes us feel more vulnerable. Help has started to come but people feel it should have been a lot sooner.

"We are fed up and angry at the lack of response we have had," she added.

Northern Powergrid said it "remained hopeful" all repairs would be completed "on Monday or Tuesday".

A spokeswoman said: "This progress is dependent on us getting some decent weather, not uncovering significant amounts of additional damage on our network and the ongoing fantastic support we are getting from other companies around the country."

It said its teams were continuing work into Monday night to get electricity supplies reconnected "for as many customer as possible".

About 300 generators have been installed across the North East, as well as major repairs to overhead networks, after more than 240,000 properties were hit by cuts when Storm Arwen brought down trees and power lines.

Paul Bircham from Electricity North West said the only properties left without power in Cumbria were empty holiday homes and discussions were continuing with owners to arrange access to reconnect them.

He said "wherever possible" trees were being cut away from lines, but that had to be negotiated with landowners.

He added he was "really disappointed" by the length of the power outages, adding: "We are really sorry."

Speaking on the 11th day of the outages, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government needed to "put pressure on those power companies".

He said the main message needed to be "let's get the power back on" and expressed concerns that it was "only December", with more cold, wet and potentially stormy winter months yet to come.

On a visit to County Durham on Sunday, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the lengthy outages were "totally unacceptable" and the performance of power firms before and during the cuts would be reviewed, with enforcement action available if failures were found.

Around 80 Royal Lancers drafted into County Durham on Friday will continue carrying out welfare checks and delivering emergency supplies to people living in remote Pennine areas.

The arrangement has been approved by the Ministry of Defence and will continue until Wednesday.

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