But Scottish Power falls short of supporting other
vulnerable customers after four days without power
Eskdalemuir community hub created a resilience plan after Storm Arwen in 2021 when many people in that area were left without power. Perhaps as a result of the plan and because the Hub is on the ‘Warm Welcome Spaces’ website, Scottish Power Energy Networks approached Lara Porter manager at the Hub and offered a generator to support them during Storm Eowyn.
A large generator arrived last Thursday, and a local farmer assisted its transport from the trailer into a space beside the Hub. As a result of this the Hub was able to offer a warm space for people last Friday at the height of the storm and fed fifty people and kept them warm there. The area suffered a power cut which for most people in the area was resolved on Saturday. The internet was also not functioning over the weekend. Manager Lara Porter said “We had people from Benty, Ettrick, Boreland, Twiglees, Corrie, in to charge devices and get heated up.”
Eskdalemuir and its Hub have been well catered for by Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) in the lead up to the storm. However, Councillor Denis Male told the E&L that this was not typical of the treatment of customers in other parts of Eskdale. He said:
“I find the performance by SPEN to have been very, very bad with the lack of information available, the lack of numbers people could call and then not even a human voice on the other end, but a robot that told customers that their postcode was not recognised.
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