One of Britain's biggest power distributors says it will increase compensation payments to customers who lost power in the Christmas Eve storm.
UK Power Networks - which says around 2,000 homes in Kent, Surrey and Sussex are still cut off - will increase payments from £27 to £75.
More than 30 flood warnings remain in place for England and Wales, as well as 17 in Scotland.
Landslips in Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire are hitting rail services.
UK Power Networks (UKPN), which owns electricity lines and cables in London, the South East and East of England, said it will almost triple its compensation for those affected by long-term power cuts.
Continue reading the main storyTravel news: Choose an area
It said power was initially interrupted to more than 300,000 customers when high winds struck on Tuesday night.
On Friday night 1,132 properties in Kent, more than 225 in Surrey and nearly 400 in Sussex were still without power, it said.
The company said that as a "gesture of goodwill" it would raise the industry-standard payment from £27 to £75 for people without power for 48-60 hours including Christmas Day.
The Christmas barbecue
Barbara Brown, from Haywards Heath in West Sussex, said her electricity went off on Monday night.
Looking on the bright side, she said her family was "lucky" because they had "time to plan" for cooking Christmas dinner without an oven.
Putting up a tarpaulin to keep their makeshift outdoor kitchen dry, they used two camping gas stoves, a charcoal barbecue and a gas barbecue to make the meal.
"We put the turkey on a barbecue with a lid and tried to pretend to roast it with charcoal," Mrs Brown said.
"We boiled our potatoes and parsnips then tried to brown them by frying them. We couldn't boil the Christmas pudding though because we didn't want to use the gas."
Her verdict on the meal? It was "fine" - in fact it was "very nice".
But the power is still off and - despite her ingenuity - Mrs Brown admitted life by candlelight was "wearing thin".
It said additional payments will be made to customers who have been without electricity for longer than that time - up to a maximum of £432.
Director of customer services Matt Rudling said: "This is such a difficult time of year for people to be without power and so many families have also been flooded out of their homes.
"Our hearts go out to our customers and we have been trying different ways to help them, from arranging Christmas dinners to providing more help and tools on our website."
Northern Ireland Electricity warned around 1,300 homes in isolated areas may remain without electricity overnight after winds gusted up to 75mph.
Caroline St Clare Grondona, from Chiddingfold in Surrey, said power firm SSE had been "useless" since her power was cut off on Monday.
"They are providing no information and we are not even appearing on their list of homes without power," she said.
"The fridge and freezer have defrosted so there is a lot of thawed out food. Christmas Day was spent with my sister but since then we've been stuck at home."
An SSE spokesman said 800 homes in its area of southern England were still cut off - mostly in "rural pockets" - and staff would keep working until all were reconnected.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
A resident of Yalding complains to David Cameron about the fact she still does not have electricity
Prime Minister David Cameron was confronted by a flood victim as he visited Yalding, in Kent on Friday, where homes have been damaged.
Resident Ericka Olivares criticised the response of the power firms and local authority: "We still have no electric. We need electric. As I say the council, from Monday we have been trying to contact them, but they have all decided to go on their holidays. Nothing."
Mr Cameron said the severity of flooding in the area made it difficult to ensure homes were protected, but "we have got to do more and we have got to do better".
The leader of Kent County Council, Paul Carter, defended the way the crisis had been handled.
"Today there'll be further skips coming in, I'm surrounded by UK Power Network vans at this moment in time, desperate to get the last remaining part of the village back on electricity.
"But generally the whole of the emergency planning operation has worked exceptionally well, in my view, over the last three or four days."
He added: "It would be nice to have extra money from central government to build some proper flood defences for this part of the country and the county of Kent."
Rail problemsRobin Gisby, managing director of network operations at Network Rail, said this week "has been one of the most challenging periods we have faced in recent times".
The line between Petersfield and Haslemere will be closed until at least 6 January after being blocked by four landslips near Liphook, South West Trains said. Buses will replace trains.
The track at Ockley between Horsham and Dorking is also closed following a serious landslip.
BBC weather forecaster Matt Taylor said the weather is due to be much calmer over the weekend with lighter winds and more sunshine.
But there will be showers in northern Scotland and in the south of Wales.
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7624 800 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Power company to boost storm payouts
Dengan url
http://sarapanoatmeal.blogspot.com/2013/12/power-company-to-boost-storm-payouts.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Power company to boost storm payouts
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Power company to boost storm payouts
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar