Homes finally have power restored after Storm Otto cut off supply

The last of more than 43,000 properties left without power in Scotland after this year’s first named storm wreaked havoc to lines have had their supplies restored.

Winds as high as 80mph were recorded across parts of north and north-east Scotland on Friday amid Storm Otto.

Thousands endured two nights without power after hundreds of faults were recorded across the energy network.

The storm, the first to be named this winter, was labelled Otto by the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI).

Roof of a building is seen partially torn off by strong winds. STV News

While the initial impacts of Storm Otto were spread across the north of Scotland, the main areas affected were in the North East, particularly Aberdeenshire and Moray

Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution confirmed on Sunday that it had restored power to all customers who lost supply following the impact of Storm Otto

The weather caused significant damage to the overhead electricity network across the north of Scotland.

Engineers had been working “tirelessly” to carry out repairs and reconnect customer supplies since the early hours of Friday morning, SSEN said.

Teams had to respond to over 200 high voltage faults and many more instances of damage on SSEN’s high voltage network as a result of fallen trees, branches and other wind-blown debris.

In total, power has now been restored to 43,000 homes. SSEN said 95% of those were reconnected within 24 hours.

Mark Rough, operations director at SSEN Distribution, said: “I’d like to thank all our customers for their continued patience and understanding as our teams worked tirelessly to restore power to all homes impacted by Storm Otto.

“Whilst the impact of Storm Otto was not as prolonged as that of other storms experienced last winter, with sustained wind speeds in excess of 70mph and storm-force gusts of 85mph across the north east, in some areas higher than Storm Arwen, impacts were unavoidable, and we were fully prepared for damage to our overhead line infrastructure.

“I would like to recognise and publicly thank our field and support staff alongside the line crews from other network operators and contractors who worked to restore over 200 faults and reconnect supplies as quickly as possible, often delivering ahead of targets. I would also like to extend our thanks to our local and national resilience partners for all their efforts in supporting customers and communities.

“With all customers now reconnected, our focus turns to repairing remedial damage and our teams will continue working on the network in the coming days to restore it to full operation. In doing this, we will try to minimise the need for any planned interruptions, but if we do need to turn off your power for a short period, we’ll let you know in advance.

“If you remain off supply at this point, we would encourage you to report it by calling 105 as it may be a very localised fault or an issue with your internal electrical supply.”