'Unacceptable' that northern homes left without power for second time this winter, Yorkshire peer says

Baroness Anne McIntosh of Pickering, who sits on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords, told The Yorkshire Post that her home was one of the properties that lost electricity when Storm Malik hit over the weekend, although power was restored “fairly quickly”.

The former Thirsk and Malton MP wants officials to reduce the vulnerability of energy infrastructure to storms, especially in rural areas, and is urging Ministers to ensure that as little of the network is above ground as possible.

Baroness McIntosh said: “It’s fairly obvious that because of climate change we’re going to have an increasing number of extreme weather events – we’ve had two storms in quick succession.

“It’s just unacceptable. We have to take a long-term view that its not going to be a quick fix.

“We can’t have a situation where every two months people in rural communities are without their right to electric and heat –especially over winter.”

During the weekend, Scotland and northern England were battered by Storm Corrie, which was quickly followed by Storm Malik.

As of yesterday morning, more than 45,500 homes were still without power, the vast majority of them in northern Scotland.

Northern Powergrid insisted that it had learned lessons from Storm Arwen last November, which led to widespread complaints about the way it communicated with customers who had lost power.

The company added that Storm Malik was worse than forecast and led to about 80,000 people losing power, mainly in County Durham and Northumberland. But it was not as devastating as Storm Arwen in November as there was no snow and ice this time.

A spokesman at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “Our review into how energy operators responded to Storm Arwen will consider a wide range of options, including putting more electricity cables underground.

“This is so that we can ensure our system, which has had £60bn of investment by gas and electricity networks in the last eight years, is as resilient as possible across the UK, including in Yorkshire and the north-east of England.

“A separate review has been launched by industry regulator Ofgem looking at how each individual network operator performed against the legal standards they are required to.

“Where they did not meet these, Ofgem will consider if appropriate enforcement action needs to be taken against them.

“Extensive plans are under way to address the risks associated with climate change and we are working very closely with the energy industry to ensure they are prepared for future severe weather conditions.”