ELECTRICITY networks provided an "unacceptable service" to thousands of customers following Storm Arwen, which left nearly one million homes without power, the industry regulator has said.

Winds of 100mph caused widespread disruption, uprooted trees and damaged power lines, cutting the electricity supply from November 26 across northern England and Scotland. Northumberland was among the worst affected areas.

Power outages lasted for more than 10 days in some areas and customers complained of poor communication from their suppliers about when they would be reconnected.

Ofgem has carried out an independent review of the industry, focusing on whether the power outages could have been prevented, if correct and timely information was given to customers affected, whether power was restored quickly enough, and how customers were supported after the storm, including compensation payments.

It found staff at distribution network operators (DNOs) worked hard in challenging conditions, but concluded that thousands of customers were provided with an "unacceptable service".

Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: "Distribution network companies faced challenging conditions in the aftermath of Storm Arwen, and I pay tribute to the many colleagues in those companies who supported customers and worked to get them back on power as quickly as possible.

"However, it was unacceptable that nearly 4,000 homes in parts of England and Scotland were off power for over a week, often without accurate information as to when power would be restored.

"Network companies need to do better, not just to prevent power disruptions, but to ensure that, when power is off, they work smarter to get people back on power quicker, and keep customers informed with accurate and timely information. This is the very least customers should be able to expect.

"The frequency of extreme weather events is only set to increase so it is really important that industry, and those involved more widely, learn from Storm Arwen to better respond in future."

The Ofgem review found:
- Some affected customers remained off power for an unacceptable amount of time, received poor communication from their network operator and compensation payments took too long.
- Plans in place to deal with the storm were not sufficient to deal with the scale of the damage.
- Northern Powergrid did not directly contact vulnerable customers enrolled on its Priority Services Register prior to Storm Arwen, which should have been carried out as part of its winter preparedness campaign.
- Northern Powergrid also accepted the performance of its call centre fell below the standards it should have been able to meet during a severe storm, potentially breaching its licence.
- Limited remote monitoring stopped firms from understanding the full scale and complexity of faults.
- There was some correlation between the age of electricity poles and how badly damaged they were in the storm, although this needed further examination.

Three firms - Northern Powergrid, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and Electricity North West - paid nearly £30 million in direct compensation to affected customers after the storms and will now pay a further £10.3 million in voluntary redress payments to the affected communities.

Northern Powergrid has agreed to pay £7.7 million.

Ofgem has recommended firms should submit their winter plans to the regulator so it is sure they are prepared.

They should also stress-test their websites and call centres to ensure adequate capacity during severe weather events.

Firms should also develop systems to speed up mass compensation payments.

Guy Opperman, MP for Hexham, said: "Storm Arwen had huge consequences for my constituents. Some were without power for 13 days.

"I held four public meetings across Tynedale and Ponteland, to listen to residents' concerns and feed those into the Beis and Ofgem reviews.

"I welcome both the Beis and Ofgem reviews, which make realistic recommendations to how we can improve responses to future storm events. 

"The review recommends bolstering network resilience, improving communications and enhancing compensation delivery.

"I want to thank Beis and Ofgem for their work. I am very pleased that the concerns of my constituents have been listened to. I am also pleased that the recommendations are realistic and can be implemented before the Autumn."

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: "Storm Arwen was one of the most extreme weather events in decades, and I'm grateful to all those engineers, armed forces personnel and volunteers who worked night and day to get people reconnected to power.

"However, it's clear that thousands of customers were badly let down by electricity network companies, which is why I launched this review to identify and address any failings.

"This action plan will ensure better preparedness for future storms, boosting the security of our electricity system and protecting families."

Phil Jones, chief executive of Northern Powergrid, said: "As we said at the time, we understand how challenging Storm Arwen was for our customers and we are sorry for the difficulty and disruption it caused to their lives. We appreciate the patience that they showed and the dedication of our team who worked through some of the most difficult conditions we have ever faced.

"The extreme nature of the event meant we learned some difficult lessons. It highlighted some limitations in our systems and showed us things we can do to be able to provide a stronger response to more extreme storms. We are committed to doing those things to make the communities that we serve more resilient to extreme weather events.

"We started to take action to improve our approach to customer communications and estimated restoration times during the later stages of the response to Storm Arwen, and we continued to work to improve that in the storms that followed. We have already seen some benefit from those early improvements that are helping to keep individuals, families, businesses and other key partners better updated and able to make more informed decisions in severe weather events. And we will keep working to improve – in line with the actions called for in the reports.

"We are also investing in improving the resilience of our website, telephony systems and power cut map in periods of exceptional demand. Those investments are happening now and will provide greater support for our customers, increased call capacity and better messaging when we have large volumes of calls.

"The biggest investment we make to limit the impact of storms on our region is in our network. By the end of the 2015-23 period we will have made investments of almost £1bn in maintaining the long term health of our network and increasing its resilience – and close to £200m of that will have focused directly on our overhead lines. We are actively engaged in dialogue with our regulator about the right levels of investment for the coming years. We have proposed increased investment in our overhead lines of around 60 per cent, along with over £50m on tree cutting over the next five years.

"As part of the improvement actions that address the findings of the investigation, we have agreed with Ofgem that we will fund charitable and not-for-profit activities that improve the resilience of communities in our region, with a particular focus on those people who need help the most both in storm situations and as we address the longer-term effects of climate change. We will donate over £7.5m and begin working with our community partners to identify the best ways to create a positive and enduring impact. When added to the compensation and direct support we have already provided to our customers affected by the storm, the total will exceed £20m.

"Storm Arwen was one of the most challenging incidents that colleagues from across our business have had to face. We are grateful to our teams for being there for our customers and their ongoing commitment to ensuring our customers receive the standards of service they expect and deserve, both now and in the future."