VILLAGERS in Dorset have shared their anger at SSEN after their area, which houses many elderly people, was left without power for four days and offered ‘little support’.
One resident, in Kington Magna near Shaftesbury, has spoken out about the way SSEN has treated villagers and says it was ‘diabolical,’ claiming there was 'little to no support' offered while they were without power.
Mark Turnbull, 55, said following damage to the power lines during Storm Eunice residents were without electricity.
Mr Turnbull said: “The way they have treated us is diabolical. It’s not like we’re in the Scottish Highlands it is easy to visit the village.
“Our electricity was off from Friday until Tuesday. Lots of elderly people had no heating or power and were not provided with anything.
“It was disappointing to be off for so long and told many different stories, it seemed the call centre had no idea of where engineers were.
“SSEN are now saying we won’t get compensation for up to three months even though that money has gone out - that is disgraceful.”
The electrical company said welfare vans had been sent out to areas without power that needed them.
Mr Turnbull added: “On Monday they did send a food trailer to the village hall but it only had fast food like burgers and chips or sausage and chips.
“On Tuesday afternoon a guy in a van came to look to see what was going on.”
SSEN customers are eligible for £70 compensation if their power was out for more than 48 hours and £70 for each 12 hour period after that, however, it could take up to three months to receive it.
Mr Turnbull added that despite social media posts from SSEN about the support they were offering that was ‘not the case’ in Kington Magna.
A spokeswoman for SSEN said: “SSEN would like to apologise for the inconvenience experienced by our customers in Kington Magna. Our welfare vans were targeted to areas where they were most needed, moving to new locations daily and we communicated their locations regularly.
“Customers who incurred costs are eligible for reimbursement and should submit their receipts to https://tinyurl.com/EuniceClaim
“Compensation will be paid to any customer who was off supply for more than 48 hours and customers do not need to contact us to achieve this, as we will automatically issue this by cheque to the address that was impacted by the storms based on the data we hold. Reimbursement and compensation will be dealt with as quickly as possible.
“Again, SSEN would like to apologise to customers who were affected by the recent storms and thanks them for their patience while our engineers worked to restore their power. Additionally, we’d like to assure them that we are working hard to ensure payments that they are owed are supplied promptly.”
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