Power supply company Northern Powergrid has increased its profits and the dividend it pays to shareholders despite thousands of its customers being left without power for lengthy periods after Storm Arwen.
Thousands of people across the North East were left without power - some for more than a week - when Storm Arwen wrought chaos across the top of the UK last November. Newcastle-based Northern Powergrid (Northeast) - which serves 1.6m customers between Northumberland, York and the Pennines – was told by regulators to send compensation to customers, with each affected household allowed to claim £70 for the first 48 hours without power and followed by an additional £70 for every 12 hours after that.
Accounts for the company for 2021 have now been published showing how the company’s operating profits was hit by costs relating to Storm Arwen of £15.5m, which it described as “the most significant weather event that the company had faced in more than two decades.” Costs of £7m relating to the storm are being included in the current year’s accounts, which the firm says relates to work on its electricity network needed as a result of the damage caused by Storm Arwen.
