Part 1: Lessons Learned from the October
2002 Storms
1 Background
4. During Sunday 27 October 2002, storms with winds
gusting up to 100 mph hit much of England and Wales, causing widespread
damage to the electricity distribution network. Up to two million
customers were affected by loss of electricity supply because
of the storms, with supplies in East Anglia, South West England
and West Wales being particularly disrupted. Most customers were
reconnected within 18 hours, but the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) estimated at the time that nearly 10,000 customers were
still without power on 1 November.[1]
Supplies were not fully restored in the worst affected area, that
served by EDF Energy's subsidiary company EPN (24seven), until
Tuesday 5 November, 10 days later.[2]
5. It was clear from the outset that some distribution
companies had handled the emergency much better than others. On
1 November 2002, the then Minister of State for Energy, Brian
Wilson MP, appointed energy consultants British Power International
(BPI) to carry out an investigation into the robustness of the
electricity network and the performance of the various companies
involved. In its report to the Minister of State, published on
19 December 2002,[3] BPI
confirmed that it had found considerable variation in the performance
of companies before and during the emergency in terms of their
preparedness, response to advance warnings of adverse weather
conditions, implementation of recovery plans and, just as important,
communication with customers. The report also set out a series
of recommendations for improved emergency preparedness and response
procedures.
6. We decided to assess for ourselves the lessons
to be learned from this event and the progress made by the electricity
supply companies in addressing the issues identified by BPI. We
also decided to review the arrangements for the payment of compensation
to customers affected by power failures and the progress made
by Ofgem in processing the compensation claims arising from the
October storms.
1 DTI Press Notice, 1 November 2002 Back
2
App 5 Back
3
October 2002 Power System Emergency Post Event Investigation,
British Power International, 16 December 2002 ('BPI Report') Back
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