Power restored for hundreds of homes in the North 11 days after Storm Arwen

Soldiers from the Royal Lancers were sent to Eggleston, in County Durham, to gather information after thousands of people were left without power following Storm Arwen

Northern Powergrid announced the homes had been reconnected late last night, after the company’s response was criticised by customers and MPs.

It comes after chief executive Phil Jones assured Prime Minister Boris Johnson the electricity would be restored for all properties in the North East on Tuesday night “at the latest”.

Engineers hit the deadline despite concerns they could be hampered by Storm Barra, which brought strong winds and heavy rain yesterday.

Around 240,000 properties lost power when Storm Arwen arrived on November 26 and caused extensive damage to the electricity network. Most of the 500 households that waited 11 days to be reconnected are in remote areas of Northumberland and County Durham.

In a statement, Northern Powergrid said: “We’re sorry that we couldn’t get it done quicker, because we know that it has been very difficult for our customers to be without power for such a long time.

“This experience has taught us that there are areas where we need to improve. In particular, in the way we use our systems to communicate with you in the event of major power cuts. We have already made some changes and will learn more lessons from the reviews that will follow.”

It added: “Storm Barra was not the size or scale of Storm Arwen and did not cause major damage or disruption to our network. However, the extent of the damage caused by Storm Arwen means that it will take some time to put everything back to normal.

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“Many of our customers are currently being supplied by generators which will need to be removed as we complete the permanent repairs. We expect to be working well into the new year to bring our network back to full strength."

“With supplies restored, our next step will include moving quickly to make compensation payments for those customers without power for more than two days.”

MPs criticised the company earlier this week for failing to swiftly restore the power for thousands of homes.

Energy minister Greg Hands said it was “completely unacceptable” that around 1,600 households in the North were left without electricity for 10 days.

Speaking in Parliament, Labour’s Kevan Jones said: “There is something seriously wrong with Northern Powergrid, not with the engineers and individuals who are out restoring power, but with the management and senior management of that company.”