The Met Office has officially named the first storm of the season, Storm Agnes, issuing a yellow weather warning for wind across most of the UK on Wednesday and Thursday.
Engineers from Electricity North West will be closely monitoring the power network over the coming days and are ensuring supplies and teams are available to respond if the weather causes any issues with local power supplies.
Electricity North West customer director, Stephanie Trubshaw, said: “While Agnes will be the first officially named storm of the season, we work all year to make our network as resilient as it can be.
“We cut trees back from our overhead lines year-round, invest in flood defences for our major electricity substations, and invest in the latest technology to manage the network safely too. We always have engineers on standby and when bad weather is forecast we ramp this up where needed across our patch to ensure a quick response.
“We’ll have local teams available to respond quickly on the ground across the North West and our customer team will be available for support if you need us.
“If laid end to end, our network of 57,000km of overhead lines and underground cables would wrap around the world one and half times. High winds can blow debris into overhead lines and localised flooding can sometimes affect the underground network too, so we’re doing everything we can to be prepared.
“If anybody sees any damage to electricity equipment over the next few days then I urge them to stay away and report it to us immediately by calling 105.”
Electricity North West offers extra support to customers who may find power cuts more difficult through its Extra Care Register. For more information and to register yourself or a family member for free, visit www.enwl.co.uk/extracare.
You can prepare by getting blankets and torches ready and speaking with neighbours or family members in case there is a power cut so you know what to do. For more tips and for live power cut information go to www.enwl.co.uk/powercuts.
You can get in touch with Electricity North West on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or by calling for free on 105 from any phone.
