Energy firms ‘uncontactable’ after Storm Arwen blackout

ENERGY companies have been accused of switching off their customer callback service during Storm Arwen to avoid logging their failure to return calls.

The regulator Ofgem said there was an “unacceptable” level of service.

It said customers were left “having to cope in appalling conditions” in the wake of the storm in November 2021, when nearly 4,000 homes were left without power for more than a week.

In a damning report, it said customers struggled to reach network providers as call centres became overwhelmed after a million homes were left without power, leaving them with inadequate information on when it would return.

Three network operators highlighted in the report have agreed to pay an additional £10 million to affected communities, on top of the £30million in direct compensation already paid out.

One firm, Electricity North West, switched off its callback function for three days in an apparent attempt to avoid being fined by Ofgem, which logs calls as unsuccessful if they are not returned within an hour.

More than 90,000 homes in the network, which covers Manchester, Carlisle and Blackpool, were left without power after the storm.

At the call centre for Northern Powergrid, more than 40 per cent of calls went unanswered after its website crashed on the first day of the storm.

A spokesman for Electricity North West said: “Switching off the callback function had absolutely no commercial impact on the [business].” Northern Powergrid said it had “learnt some difficult lessons” from the storm.