LONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - British utilities will pay customers 1.8 million pounds ($2.83 million) in compensation after storms last October left about two million people without power, regulator Ofgem said on Tuesday. EDF Energy, which owns two local power distribution networks in eastern and southern England
where the weather was most severe, has agreed to pay nearly 1.2 million pounds in compensation, the watchdog said. The company, owned by state-run Electricite de France , had to bring over engineers from France to help speed up repairs after gale force winds played havoc with power lines. Distribution companies were criticised at the time of the storms for being slow in reconnecting power supplies. Aquila Networks has agreed to pay more than 500,000 pounds compensation while three other distribution firms will make smaller payments. The companies agreed to pay a total of 1.6 million pounds to 18,000 customers and were ordered to pay an additional 260,000 pounds by Ofgem to more than 2,700 consumers making formal claims to the regulator.
Customers whose complaints were accepted by Ofgem will receive payments of between 25 and 325 pounds depending on how long they were without power supplies. "This is the highest number of determinations Ofgem has ever had to make," said David Gray, Ofgem's managing director. "Most customers who made claims will now receive compensation for the failure to restore their supplies within the required timescales." Last week, Ofgem launched an investigation into a huge power cut which plunged London into chaos during Thursday's evening rush hour. Unlike the October storms which damaged local distribution networks, Thursday's power cut was caused by a freak incident in the high-voltage transmission network run by the National Grid .
National Grid, which is carrying out its own enquiry, has said it would be weeks before it could say with certainty what caused the blackout.
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