Power restored for thousands of customers in Aberdeenshire and Highlands after wintry blast

Snow on the roads and high winds caused difficulties for engineers, according to SSEN.

By Bailey Moreton

December 23 2023, 9:11 am

Power was out for more than a thousand people early Saturday morning in Oldmeldrum. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson.

Engineers have restored power to thousands of households across Aberdeenshire and the Highlands after wintry weather.

A power outage near Oldmeldrum impacted more than 1,000 people on Saturday morning.

The outage affected 1,152 people across 146 postcodes.

Elsewhere customers in Insch, Rothes, Glass, Dyke and Dufftown also went without power.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) said high winds and bad weather conditions were making it “harder than normal to get the power back on”.

A man clears snow from the pavement in Newmachar. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

The utility provider added: “A mixture of difficulties including damage to our network and travel restrictions means that it may take longer than you’d expect to get the power back on, but we promise we’re doing everything we can to get lights back on sooner.”

People living outside Drumnadrochit and Foyers were also left without power dur to the extreme weather.

Engineers attended and restored power in the afternoon.

Up on the northern tip of the Orkney Isles, a power outage impacted about 50 customers into the afternoon.