‘No lacklustre storm response in the south’

The early findings of a Government probe has slammed the response of utilities firms after thousands were left without power for more than a week.

Huge swathes of the North East were left paralysed when StormArwenhittheregionlast year - with many families still feeling the effects days later.

Official figures suggested just under one million households across the UK suffered power cuts during the severe weather event, with the Army evencalledintoaidhouseholds in County Durham and Northumberland.

The ordeal prompted an inquiry which criticised the “completelyunacceptablethat thousands of homes were left without power for so long”.

But one North East MP has claimedtheinvestigationsofar has also highlighted mistakes and delays by key decisionmakers.

"The interim report cannot cover up the failure of local and central government,” said Easington MP Grahame Morris, who was one of the first regional leaders to call for a probe into the storm and its aftermath.

“There was a systemic failure to react to the red weather warningandtheydidn’trecognise the scale of the crisis until it overwhelmed them.

“The lacklustre Storm Arwen response would not happen in London and the south, and Storm Eunice proved this to be true.”

He added: “The Government simply does not treat the north in the same way as they treat the south and until there is a change of mindset in Westminster and Whitehall, promises to level up are a lie.”

AfinalreportbytheDepartmentforBusiness,Energyand IndustrialStrategyisexpected tobepublishedinMarch,along with findings of a separate investigation by energy regulator Ofgem.

Aninterimpaperpublished this month found nearly 6,500 faults were recorded by the network operators, predominantly to overhead line circuits.

Thisleft59,101homeswithout power for over 48 hours and 3,032 for a week or more. Key highlights included: “Unacceptably high” waiting times for customers trying to contact their energy network operator

That network operators had failed to adequately “accountforwinddirectionaswell as speed and duration in their escalation thresholds”

A recommendation to speedup“paymentofcompensation to affected customers”.