POWER CUTS LATEST: Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) say all Highland customers should have the lights back on later today after mass power cuts caused by Storm Gerrit

Engineers from Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) hope to reconnect all remaining Highland customers hit by Storm Gerrit power cuts by later today.

Teams from the power giant have been working through the night to tackle faults and breakages.

By 11 am today, power had been restored to 47,000 homes and around 450 properties still off-grid.

Gales, snow and heavy rain brought widespread damage to the grid infrastructure after storms hit on Wednesday.

Localised faults remain in small pockets along the Great Glen, at Maryburgh, Achiltibuie and across Aberdeenshire and Perthshire.

SSEN said these were “the sole focus” of today’s repair and restoration efforts, adding: “It is expected all customers will be reconnected through the course of today and this evening, barring any unforeseen challenges.”

Improving conditions yesterday saw substantial progress made in reconnecting thousands of people who had lost supplies, helped by the arrival of additional line crews from contractors and other network operators through Wednesday and Thursday.

Teams continued to work into the early hours to clear debris, which was hindering access to areas where repairs were needed.

That resulted in hundreds more properties being reconnected late last night. Since first light today, crews have resumed targeted efforts to restore those final properties.

These include customers in the Fort Augustus area, as well as some in Maryburgh, Ross-shire.

SSEN is continuing to work closely with local resilience partners to coordinate welfare arrangements and identify customers who may benefit from additional support. Customer service teams are also in regular contact with those on the Priority Services Register to give updates and offer support with alternative accommodation where necessary.

In mobilising its response, SSEN dealt with over 13,000 incoming calls, while making more than 11,000 proactive calls to priority service register customers who might have needed extra assistance.

Welfare vans serving free hot food and drink have also been deployed.

Andy Smith, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: “Our operational teams have made excellent progress in restoring customers impacted by Storm Gerrit, in the face of continued challenging conditions last night.

“We recognise this has been a difficult couple of days for the customers still affected, and I’m grateful to them for their continued patience and support as our teams work extremely hard to restore power.

“Up to now we’ve targeted our restoration plan on repairing the faults that will reconnect the greatest number of customers, and those who have been without power the longest.

“Today, we face a number of complex and very localised faults, and we press on to reconnect those final customers affected.

“We are still encountering some access challenges. However, I’d like to reassure our customers that all our teams have been directed to these last few remaining areas of damage for this final push.”

Anyone who may need additional help or advice should contact SSEN on the power cut helpline, 105.

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