Innovative technology and fast-acting engineers combined to restore power to thousands of properties across the North West following dramatic storms yesterday.

Heavy rain, thunder and lightning strikes impacted the network across the region as engineers from Electricity North West worked through the night to restore power supplies.

Forecasters from the Met Office had issued yellow and amber warnings yesterday and over the weekend which saw Electricity North West ramp up its standby resources including in the contact centre so customers could be supported when calling in. 

As of this morning, engineers had restored power to all properties affected by the weather.

Stephanie Trubshaw, Electricity North West’s customer director, said: “We invest in innovative technology for the network year-round to enable power to be restored automatically – within a few minutes in many cases -particularly where there are short-lived issues, like lightning.

“Even with this technology, last night proved to be quite busy as thunder storms impacted the power network across the North West.

“Even though we’ve had a prolonged spell of heat, we still monitor the weather forecast daily so that we are ready to respond if needed.

“Last night, the extra teams we had on standby paid dividends, as they were able to carry out repairs quickly to get everyone back on.”

Last year, Electricity North West invested millions of pounds upgrading and adding on more automation to the power network.

Electricity North West offers extra support to customers through Extra Care Register. For more information and to register visit www.enwl.co.uk/extracare.

Live power cut information in the region is available at www.enwl.co.uk/livepowercuts, and the network can be contacted on Twitter or Facebook, or by calling for free on 105 from any phone.