- Additional 12,000 homes have been reconnected by network companies overnight.
- 30,000 homes remain without power, down from 45,000 yesterday, with the vast majority now in remote locations where access remains difficult.
- Engineers have been battling with 4,500 individual sites of damage so far.
- Networks working with local resilience forums to provide hot food and accommodation.
Supporting customers and reconnecting them is the networks' priority, with thousands of engineers and support staff continuing to work around the clock to assess damage, access remote locations, rebuild or repair the network and reconnect customers.
Welfare centres and hot food are being provided, with the energy network companies working in partnership with local resilience forums, emergency services, local authorities and the British Red Cross.
Some homes - mainly single, rural houses or groups of houses - will not be reconnected until at least the end of the week.
Engineers have been battling with 4,500 individual sites of damage. In places the damage has been catastrophic. At just one site, 100 poles were snapped in half. Substations have been impacted by fallen trees and airborne debris and wires have been downed.
100 teams of engineers were deployed from the south of England yesterday to address the worst hit areas, with more travelling to impacted areas today. Engineers have also been sent from Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man to bolster efforts on the ground.
Helicopters and drones continue to be used to feed information to engineers on the ground, allowing damage to be fully assessed – particularly where access has proven challenging.
Ross Easton, Director at Energy Networks Association, which represents companies operating the power networks, said:
"Our focus is making sure people without power are looked after, with help from local resilience forums, and reconnected as quickly and safely as possible. In places the electricity network has been flattened and we are working around the clock to get people back online.
"Network companies have continued to make progress overnight against some challenging conditions. 97% of homes have been reconnected so far. While this number is increasing all the time, the remaining 30,000 homes are in some of the worst hit and often remote areas of the country."
We continue to advise people to make alternative arrangements for accommodation where they can. Network operators are reimbursing reasonable expenses incurred.
Notes to editor
- Customers can find out who their local energy network operator is using our postcode finder (energynetworks.org/postcode).
- Photos attached to release suitable for publication with credit as provided.
- This data is correct at 9am this morning (Wednesday 1 December). A further update will be provided at around 3pm today.
About us
Energy Networks Association (ENA) is the industry body representing the energy networks. Our members include every major electricity network operator in the UK. The electricity networks are at the heart of the energy transition. They directly employ more than 26,000 people in the UK, including 1,500 apprentices. They are spending and investing £33bn in our electricity grids over the coming years, to ensure safe, reliable and secure energy supplies for the millions of homes and businesses reliant on power every day.
Press contacts
You can contact ENA's press office by emailing press@energynetworks.org. For urgent or out-of-hours enquiries from journalists, please call 0204 599 7691.