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SP Energy Networks (SPEN) teams worked to restore power to the 200,000 customers impacted, often in challenging weather conditions, to connect 89% of customers in the first 24 hours following the storm and 96 percent within 48 hours.

However, a significant number of rural customers and communities were without power for more than two days and SP Energy Networks recognises the impact that this has had upon those customers.

The review will consider:

• SPEN’s role in working with local authorities and resilience during a storm response, and how this could be improved; and, looking ahead to net zero, how network and electricity resilience in rural areas could be improved, to ensure that the balance of costs and resilience is met appropriately.

• SPEN’s response and communications with rural communities during a major storm event, and what improvements can be made.

It will be supported by an expert panel drawn from local communities, and its findings are expected to be published towards the end of March next year.

Charles Hendry said: “We need to take stock and understand what could be done differently to prepare or respond to an event like this to minimise its effect in future. “Those in rural communities were affected the worst, and so we’ll be focusing on those areas to ensure their voices are heard.”

Frank Mitchell, the CEO of SP Energy Networks, added: “We remain incredibly grateful to our customers for their patience as our engineers worked tirelessly to make repairs safely amid some continuing challenging weather conditions but we also appreciate the worry and uncertainty over the length of time without power has brought to some customers.”

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