NORTHERN Powergrid has revealed how compensation, potentially thousands of pounds per household, will paid to people left without electricity after Storm Arwen.

Some 240,000 homes were left without power on Friday, November 27 when Storm Arwen ripped across the North East with torrential rain, snow and winds of up 100mph.

Thousands of people were left struggling for food, warmth, and other amenities for up to ten days.

The company has said the amount of compensation each customer is entitled to is ‘bespoke’, depending on the length of time without power, compared with the length of time the regulations gave to restore supply.

A company spokesperson said: “We understand the strain Storm Arwen has placed on our customers at a difficult time and how important it is that we make compensation payments as swiftly as possible.

“For a typical customer, if you were without power for more than 48 hours, the compensation payment will be £70 for the first 48 hours and £70 for every 12 hours beyond that.

“Although compensation under the regulations is capped at £700, we are voluntarily topping-up payment to those off supply for the longest, so you will be compensated as if the cap did not apply.”

It means someone without power for 12 full days would be entitled to almost £1,500.

The spokesperson said: “We are processing the data that will allow us to pay you compensation automatically where we already have all the information we need.

“We expect that to apply to a significant proportion of our customers affected by the storm.

“Those customers will not have to contact us.

“We will calculate the amount of compensation due and proactively send you a cheque.

“For customers where we do not hold all the information we need, we will send you a letter inviting you to provide the required details.

“You will be able to do this via our secure website, by calling us or by returning the form we will provide.”

All payments will be made via cheque, to mitigate the risk of fraud.

Northern Powergrid will not request any bank details at any time.

People will also be able to claim ‘welfare support payments’ to cover food and emergency accommodation, but will have to provide receipts.

The spokesperson said: “We know that you may also have incurred unexpected additional costs due to the power cut.

“So in addition to the compensation payments, we will provide financial assistance to any domestic customer who was still off supply on November 29 or later and who needed our help.

“We will pay for the reasonable costs of alternative accommodation and food (up to £15 per person per meal).

“We will also contribute to other reasonably incurred costs; for example where a customer arranges for their own back-up generator.

“Next week, we will be providing more detail and new ways to claim for these welfare support payments. In the meantime, please keep your receipts.”

Read more: Major incident declared in County Durham due to widespread power cuts

Last week The Northern Echo reported that it could take up to three months to receive compensation, something MPs from County Durham described as “unacceptable”.

At the time Paul Glendinning, executive director at Northern Powergrid, said the priority remained with reconnecting the 700 houses still without power.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said, given the scale of disruption, particularly during the run up to Christmas, he expected Ofgem to ensure Distribution Network Operators make ‘every effort’ to deliver compensate affected customers ‘swiftly and without delay’.

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