The firm, which operates the North West’s power network, is responding after the Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for Cumbria and parts of Lancashire and Greater Manchester.

The storm, named by the Irish meteorological services, is set to bring gusts of up to 65mph which could cause damage to overhead lines as debris and trees affect the network, while and heavy rainfall is also expected. It is the first named storm since Storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge in February.

Electricity North West is increasing the number of engineers on standby with colleagues across the organisation monitoring the forecast to respond.
Sam Loukes, incident manager at Electricity North West, said: “We have teams monitoring the weather daily and where necessary, we put in place well developed plans to help keep the power flowing to customers.

“Following the Met Office’s weather warning, we have immediately put plans in place to ensure we can respond if Storm Ellen causes any problems to the electricity network.

“We invest money throughout the year to ensure our network is resilient as possible but when the weather hits, we make sure our response is as quick as possible. Our engineers and contact centre teams are on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond.

“If anybody does see any damage to overhead lines or electricity equipment, we urge them to stay away and report it to us immediately by calling 105.”
Electricity North West offers extra support to customers through their Priority Services Register. For more information and to register visit www.enwl.co.uk/priority.

Customers can stay safe and prepare themselves in the event of potential power cuts by following the simple advice here www.enwl.co.uk/power-cuts/helpful-tips.

You can view any live power cut information in the region here or get in touch on social media or by calling 105.

For more information about how we prepare the network throughout the year, watch our video.