This is how much compensation the North East has had after Storm Arwen

After torrential rain, high winds and snow battered the region at the start of this month, through Storms Arwen and Barra, thousands of families were left without electricity and heating - some for as long as 13 days.

Now that power has been restored to each of the 240,000 affected properties, talk has shifted to compensating those that incurred food, accommodation or other costs during the power outage.

Read more: Northern Powergrid explains Storm Arwen compensation plan

Last week, Northern Powergrid promised that “a large number” of people would be given their reimbursements by Christmas.

However, after issuing an update earlier today (December 22), the company has confirmed that it has only processed 23,000 compensation cheques.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said: “We continue our focus on ensuring customers who are due some compensation after Storm Arwen get their money as swiftly as possible.

Storm Arwen caused chaos throughout the North East at the end of last month and into December.

“Storm Arwen caused unprecedented levels of damage to parts of our network.  To get the lights back on our teams had to do an enormous amount of work, including delivering major rebuilds in some locations. In other cases, we deployed temporary generation.”

Despite having thousands more compensation requests to process, Northern Powergrid has confirmed that its “confident” of still delivering on their Christmas promise to customers.

The spokesperson added: “With Christmas post, we expect the majority of our customers will receive their payment before the end of this week.

Just over 240,000 people were left without power - some for as many as 13 days.

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

Alongside the reimbursements, Northern Powergrid has also announced that all the reconstruction work has been completed in Weardale, County Durham, where the final generator was removed on Monday and everyone was fully restored to the electricity network.

This was also the case in Tees Valley and parts of Northumberland, which were also devastated by Storm Arwen. The company now has only 50 generators on the whole network.

Kevan Jones MP (North Durham) and Dehenna Davison MP (Bishop Auckland) have been vocal about the compensation scheme for affected families.

Following the announcement about Storm Arwen compensation from Northern Powergrid, several MPs from County Durham has urged “prompt action” that will see families paid out over the festive period.

Before the Christmas break for Parliament last week, Bishop Auckland MP, Dehenna Davison, and North Durham MP, Kevan Jones, pushed the government to write to Northern Powergrid to “iron out” the details of reimbursement cheques.

Mr Jones, who has been vocal both during and after the Storm Arwen chaos, said: “Northern Powergrid’s response has been sluggish, and their communications woeful. My constituents have repeatedly told to access information via Northern Powergrid website, but it is clear that this system is useless.

“It is vital that lessons are learnt from this incident, and that in future all bodies work together to support local people. I will be compiling a report based on the experience of my constituents, and would ask that everyone who has been affected emails me at kevanjonesmp@parliament.uk when they are in a position to do so.”

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