01 September 2005 00:00 Central Networks restores power to customers after East Midlands electricity network struck 5,500 times by lightning

They say lightning never strikes twice, but in the East Midlands it struck over 5,500 times during a fierce lightning storm that hit the region on Wednesday (31 AUG) night.

Engineers and call centre staff worked around the clock after 53,389 customers across the East Midlands were left without power after lightning struck the electricity network.

Customer Operations Director, Jim Lightfoot, said: “We used our special lightning tracker to monitor the lightning storm closely as it moved across the region.

“We could clearly see where the ‘hot spots’ were and which areas were hit the most. This information is vital and means we can get our engineers out to the worse affected areas and get those customers without power back on supply as quickly as we can. ”

The majority of customers were only off for a short period of time and by the Thursday morning (1 SEPT) only 2,000, largely in parts of Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, were still without power. The final customers are being restored throughout today and into the evening.

Jim said: “Last night our engineers were out there in some very difficult weather conditions and worked tirelessly, when it was safe to do so, to get our customers back on supply.”

“Today they have continued to work hard to get those final customers back on as quickly as possible and will continue to do so until everyone has their power restored.”
Ends

Notes to editors:

• Breakdown of customers affected in each county
These figures represent customers who have been affected by a power cut caused by the storm in the last 24 hours. Please note only 1,400 remain off supply in the Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire areas.
Leicestershire 171
Derbyshire 6087
Nottinghamshire 2102
Warwickshire 14957
Northamptonshire 21078
Lincolnshire 8994

• Central Networks is the new name for Midlands Electricity and East Midlands Electricity. The company brings power to 4.8 million customers across the East and West Midlands through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables – enough to go round the Earth almost four times – and via almost 97,000 substations;
• Central Networks covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast.

For further information:
Rebecca Middleton on 024 7642 5779
Emily Highmore 024 7642 4583
Out of hours, call 024 7642 4000 and ask for the duty press officer