An Aberdeenshire councillor has described energy company SSEN as “complacent, chaotic and corrosive” in its response to Storms Malik and Corrie.
Leigh Wilson, who represents the Mearns ward, called for a “long-term plan” to tackle future weather events after thousands were left without power in recent days.
Similar issues were experienced following Storm Arwen in late November last year, and the Scottish Government recently published a review with six recommendations for improving responses.
This morning, around 9,500 homes in Aberdeenshire, Moray, the Highlands and the Western Isles were still without power, with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) saying “small pockets” would not have access to electricity until Wednesday.
‘Public trust fast slipping away’
Mr Wilson accused the energy company of failing to process compensation requests from those affected.
He said: “I would like to put my thanks on record to the workers on the ground as well as the individuals and small businesses who are providing support to those in need.
“Only last month I spent time bringing food parcels to constituents who had no power for a full seven days – yet shamefully, despite my repeated attempts to contact SSEN regarding compensation requests, they have yet to return one of my calls or reply to any of my emails.
“This is clearly a company who are complacent, because they are taking their customers for granted; chaotic, because the left arm isn’t in communication with the right; and corrosive, because public trust in their handling of these situations is fast slipping away.”
SSEN has deployed welfare facilities providing supplies such as hot food to areas across the north-east, with those who remain off supply able to claim back the cost of meals up to £15 per person.
A spokesman for the company said: “We would like to apologise to all customers affected by Storm Malik and Storm Corrie and would like to reassure them that all available resources have been deployed to support with restoration efforts.
“Our teams are working exceptionally hard to restore power as quickly as possible and continue to make good progress.
“Given the extreme winds from Storm Corrie, which saw record gusts in areas such as Inverbervie, damage to local infrastructure was inevitable but we will closely review any learnings that can be made once all customers are restored.”
He added: “We are disappointed to hear of Cllr Wilson’s reported experiences in customer services and we have reached out to him directly to resolve his complaint.”
