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Grid companies must double payments to customers cut off in severe weather, under Ofgem proposals published on Tuesday.
Distribution network operators (DNOs) will be required to pay out £70 a customer if they fail to meet minimum levels of service. A cap on compensation will be lifted from £216 to £700 and payments are to be made automatically “wherever possible”.
The rule changes follow storms over Christmas that cut off power to around a million customers, with 16,000 off supply for more than 48 hours.
Hannah Nixon, senior partner for distribution, said: “Many parts of Britain have seen some extreme weather conditions over the last few months and Ofgem has been proactively looking at ways to help consumers who face disruption to their energy supply in these situations.
“We are committed to ensuring that consumers are provided with a reliable electricity service. During the 2013 Christmas storms, 95% of customers who faced power cuts were reconnected within 24 hours, but we remain concerned about the 5% whose supplies were off for an extended period. Increasing the financial payments would send a strong message to the network companies that they need to do all that they can to reconnect all customers as fast as possible.”
The regulator has already increased standard levels of compensation for power cuts during normal weather.
Ofgem is consulting on the latest proposals and will publish a decision by 1 July.
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