OLECG – Efforts underway to restore Stronsay power

The multi-agency Orkney Local Emergency Co-ordinating Group (OLECG) met this morning to discuss the ongoing power outage in Stronsay

Following issues with power infrastructure on Stronsay, including failure of back-up generation, supplies have been intermittent since yesterday with around 50% of the island currently without power.

Efforts are underway by SSEN to get people and parts to Orkney to work on the issues as soon as possible. SSEN advises that customers will experience further interruptions to supplies as repairs are carried out, but aims to restore power to all customers affected by 6pm this evening.

Meanwhile the Stronsay Fish Mart is open until 3.00pm, providing refreshments to those who are currently without power.
OLECG brings together the emergency services, public sector agencies including Orkney Islands Council and NHS Orkney, transport providers and utility companies

Local Police Scotland Chief Inspector Scott Robertson is Chair of OLECG. He said: "Disruptions to power supplies in remote and rural areas can prove very difficult for householders, particularly when they go on for long periods of time.

"As we would have expected there's a fantastic community effort underway in Stronsay to help out those who are currently without power - and my particular thanks go to Tara and team at the Fishmart for keeping people fed and watered.  We’d encourage everyone to continue to check in on anyone who they think might need extra help.

"Efforts are ongoing to get the power supply back up and running to all island households and we will provide further updates in due course."

Pamela Harvey, Customer Relationship Manager at SSEN Distribution said:

“Situations like this are rare and we’d like to thank our customers for their patience and reassure them we’re doing everything we can to safely restore supplies as quickly as possible. We have teams of engineers on the island working to carry out repairs and connect additional mobile generation to reconnect customers to the network.

“We’re proactively calling customers on our Priority Services Register to check on their welfare, and I’d encourage anyone who has any concerns for themselves or others to contact our dedicated teams on the power cut helpline, 105.”