Disappointing decision by power firm over storm compensation

This historic committee was the first ever of its kind in the chamber and the first since the English Votes for English laws legislation was passed in Parliament.

English Votes for English Laws helps ensure MPs throughout the United Kingdom have an equal voice, and will strengthen the Union by giving English people more say over their own destiny.

This new system was put to use for the first time with the important Housing and Planning Bill last Tuesday.

This week it was announced by Electricity North West that no gratuity payments would be made to any customers who were effected by the severed power outages in December.

They claim this is due to Storm Desmond being classed as a severe storm due to the sheer number of customers effected and in these cases customers must have no electricity for 48 consecutive hours in order to qualify for a payment.

If you believe your supply was off for more than 48 hours, please contact Electricity North West and they will relook at your application.

The decision Electricty North West have made is disappointing but has been made in conjunction with their regulator OFGEM which agrees their terms.

I have written to OFGEM to ask them to reconsider the rules in this case as people may have had generator power for part of the six days the power was off but as far as I am concerned this was by no means a full service as people were asked only to use essential power to avoid overloading the temporary generators.

I am also arranging a meeting with Electricity North West to discuss this issue and to also ensure steps are being taken to ensure the substation does not flood again in the future.