Utility Week

12 | JANUARY 2022 | UTILITY WEEK Electricity The ENA's director of regulation, Paul McGimpsey, acknowledges that communi- cation could have been better and will be a central focus of the DNOs' own reviews of the storm. "I do appreciate that our communications with customers have perhaps not been what they could have been during this event," he said to the BEIS Select Committee. Customers were reportedly waiting up to two hours on the first day of power cuts to speak to their network through the 105 num- ber, with calls up more than 300%, accord- ing to the ENA. Eighty-two thousand calls per day were handled via 105, with 16,000 calls managed per hour at peak times. DNOs were able to reduce call times to between 10 and 15 minutes by dra‹ing in assistance from network operators from other parts of the country and "other utility companies". The ENA says the "Power cut? Call 105 number" has improved communications for customers in severe weather events as well as more generally, but Frerk says she was never convinced that a national number would have much of an impact on the qual- ity of communications. If networks were able to reduce call wait- ing times by sharing call centre staff then she says this could be looked at as a model of how to improve communication moving forwards. "We are only going to get more storms. If [this arrangement] was something that they managed to make work for the first time then absolutely make that more formal- ised," she says. Kwarteng has indicated that companies must do better, telling the House of Com- mons during a debate five days a‹er Storm Arwen: "The storm hit and the companies did not have the communication networks, the call centres or the people there to deal with the situation. "There was an issue with communication on the weekend, I am sad to say. There was a huge surge in demand and not enough infra- structure – there were not enough people in the call centres to deal with the situation." Accurate communication over reconnection times In the Commons, Tory MP John Lamont said SP Energy Networks (SPEN) has "serious questions" to answer about its "failure" to provide accurate information to residents about reconnection times. This issue is not unique to SPEN, nor this storm, and stems from networks giving the most optimistic scenario to customers of being reconnected when the high-voltage network is reinstated. However, once back up, further faults are o‹en then detected on the low-voltage network. Frerk says this problem is well known to networks and they should be assuming that further faults will be detected when giving information to consumers. "That was one of the lessons that came out of the 2013 storms. People wanted to know accurate information. And I know the networks don't always know, but they are naturally optimistic and want to do well. "But really, the importance of being clear upfront of what the worst-case sce- nario could be should be coming out in the comms." More accurate information, or at least a change to slightly more pessimistic con- nection predictions, would also encourage networks to engage earlier with other organi- sations to provide support. One of the criticisms to emerge is that it took days for Local Resilience Forums, which co-ordinate support for householders with- out power, to be up and running in response to information from networks. But achieving this would "need a whole cultural shi‹ around 'the worst thing we can do is give people false hope'", says Frerk. Other interventions and support While networks are ultimately responsi- ble for the length of power cuts, MPs in the worst affected areas felt that the government should have done more sooner to support householders. The government faced calls to bring in the army to do door-to-door welfare checks days before they were eventually mobilised. Frerk does believe that more thinking should be going on around community-level resilience by all parties, not just networks. "I've always thought that if we made sure there was one place in each community that had a generator and could act as a hub then at least you are doing something to think about providing a base in other kinds of emergency situations such as floods. "Are there things that the networks can be doing to make sure there are places people can go to be safe? But that comes back to the comms. "If they were saying from the beginning people are going to be off for over a week, we need the army in, then the government would have done something." The army is unlikely to be made avail- able a‹er storms other than in exceptional circumstances but the challenge of commu- nicating and supporting customers is only going to get harder for networks. In 2025, BT is shutting down its PSTN net- work. This network currently allows ordinary plug-in phones to work without an electricity connection, which is why such phones are included in support packages by DNOs. Once it is switched off, all calls will be made over the internet and will therefore require electricity. The eight-day power cuts of Storm Arwen may be able to provide networks with valu- able insights of how to communicate with customers who don't have landlines and whose mobiles are flat. Lucinda Dann, features editor continued from previous page Photo: ENW Storm Arwen made landfall on 26 November and lasted two days. Power was restored to the last home on 7 December.

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