Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the cost was of restoring power lost as a result of Storm Arwen; and how that cost was met.
Answered by Greg Hands
The cost of restoring power during Storm Arwen was met by Transmission and Distribution Network Operators. Their expenditure and charges to customers are carefully regulated by Ofgem through the network price controls process.
As the independent regulator for energy, Ofgem has also announced that it will undertake a review into the impact of Storm Arwen. This will focus on the role of the network companies in maintaining the resilience of the system and their emergency response.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the average amount of time that people were without power as a result of Storm Arwen in (a) Wansbeck constituency, (b) Northumberland and (c) the North East.
Answered by Greg Hands
Across Great Britain, around 830,000 electricity customers who were impacted by Storm Arwen had their power restored within 24 hours, however, nearly 10,000 households went without power for a week or more, many of whom were in the North East of England. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has commissioned his officials to carry out a post-incident review into the Distribution Network Operator’s response to Storm Arwen, which will ascertain the full scale of customer disruption.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the amount of profit made by private electricity companies compared to investment in electricity infrastructure in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Greg Hands
Electricity network operators are private companies which build, own, and operate electricity network infrastructure. As regional monopolies, they are regulated by the independent energy regulator, Ofgem. The total value of the electricity transmission price control between 2013 and 2021 was over £15bn, while the forecast total value of the electricity distribution price control between 2015 and 2023 is over £29bn.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much money his Department has spent on electricity infrastructure in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Greg Hands
Electricity network operators are private companies which build, own, and operate electricity network infrastructure. As regional monopolies, they are regulated by the independent energy regulator, Ofgem. The total value of the electricity transmission price control between 2013 and 2021 was over £15bn, while the forecast total value of the electricity distribution price control between 2015 and 2023 is over £29bn.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department made of the resilience of energy networks and infrastructure prior to Storm Arwen in the regions affected by that storm.
Answered by Greg Hands
Great Britain has one of the most reliable energy systems in the world and maintaining a secure electricity supply is a key priority for Government.
Government regularly liaises with industry through the Energy Emergencies Executive Committee to continually improve and maintain the resilience of energy infrastructure, networks and assets, to reduce vulnerabilities, and to ensure an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents.