The plight of the thousands of East Sussex residents left without power and water was raised with the Prime Minister this week by the MP for Bexhill and Battle constituency, Huw Merriman.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Merriman asked for help to deliver more resilience to the system and to ensure that power and water companies work closer together. He specifically called for water companies to be required to [‘have back up generators so the water doesn’t stop running when the power goes down’ and for Local Resilience Forums to be ‘fit for purpose and communicate with the community they serve’. In response, the Prime Minister thanked him for his comments and said ‘I know how tough it is for people who have been short of power for days on end… we're working as fast as we can with local authorities, with the electricity companies, to make sure that they get their power back, but also ensuring that we build in more resilience for the future.’
Mr Merriman has been supporting residents and championing the need to improve water and electricity supply resilience in Parliament since Storm Eunice saw thousands in East Sussex go without water and power for days on end.
Earlier in the week, the MP led questions to the Secretary of State for Business and Energy and sought a meeting to discuss further intervention and reform. During that meeting, the MP explained that the local water provider did not have back-up generators in place so the water failed along with the power. He also expressed concern that the power providers were focusing efforts to reconnect power to the most homes rather than prioritising the rural pumping stations which deliver the water,
Since the storm hit on Friday, Mr Merriman has also been in close contact with residents and the utility companies, ensuring the most vulnerable have access to water and power, or are moved to a utility company funded hotel accommodation until services are restored. Huw has overseen the establishment of a bottled water collection centre in Bexhill and the dispatch of several UK Power Network customer service vehicles to provide hot food, drinks, charging facilities and Wi-Fi to residents without power.
On Wednesday morning, Mr Merriman held calls with the Chief Constable of Sussex Police (to discuss the Local Resilience Forum Response), the Chief Executives of both South East Water and UK Power Networks and the Regulators for Water and Power to discuss how to assist residents immediately and build long-term resilience.
Commenting, Mr Merriman said:
“It is simply not good enough that residents have been without power and or water for five days. Our local water and power supply resilience clearly needs bolstering to prevent this situation from ever occurring again.
“I would like to see utility companies working together better. Water companies must have back-up generators in place so that water does not fail when the power does. Until such time, the power providers need to prioritise the rural pumping stations rather than taking a view that not many residents live nearby. These stations pump thousands of homes and cannot do so without power. We also need our local emergency stakeholders, who comprise the Local Resilience Forum, to communicate and coordinate emergency responses efficiently to the community they serve.
“I am sorry that so many residents have endured such frustrating and unnecessary consequences. You have my word that I will work hard to address the flaws in our system that allowed these issues to arise in the first place.”
UK Power Networks has decided to make an extra £50 payment, earlier than payments would normally apply which would be after 48 hours due to the severity of the storm. This means that if you have been impacted by Storm Eunice, you are eligible for £50 after 24 hours without electricity, an additional £70 if you reach 48 hours, and an additional £70 thereafter for every 12 hours without power. The company will be in touch with residents entitled to a payment by text message, email or letter in the coming days.
