Northern Powergrid

Even Storm Darragh couldn't stop them 💪 A HUGE congratulations to Danny McManus and his team for crossing the line in Liverpool - completing a 133 mile walk in torrential rain and wind! The team of trekkers began their huge task in Leeds where their friend Henry Erskine is based, he is the reason behind their mammoth challenge. Henry is fighting stage 4 Leiomyosarcoma, a form of cancer that falls under the umbrella of Sarcoma and occurs in soft tissue. Raising money to help Henry get treatment outside the NHS is crucial, so Danny McManus and his team set off in early December to face an uphill challenge. Little did they know that awful weather was on its way to batter the UK via Storm Darragh for a few days, making the challenge even more difficult. Football matches were called off, hundreds of thousands of people were without power across the country, but Danny and his team kept going. But on Saturday 7 December just before 3pm, Danny, Dan McKernan, Adam and Rich Cracknell crossed the finish line in Liverpool to a small crowd of friends with a cold beer waiting for them. 🗣️Danny said “We had a laugh whilst doing it, we had a video call along the way with Henry to boost morale when things got hard – reminding ourselves that yes this is tough but it’s nothing compared to what he is going through. “By the end, we were hobbling round like old men and our bodies were aching even a week or so later because we weren’t in shape gym goers, we are just six regular lads trying to push ourselves." You can read more about the walk on our website 👉 https://ow.ly/yRh550UtbBC And if you would like to donate to this incredible cause, you can find all the details here 👉 https://ow.ly/tHtx50UtbBE

Our winter campaign has been popping up on SmartOutdoor screens across our region for the past few weeks, with hints and tips on how to be prepared this winter! ❄️ Below is one of our locations - any guesses where this one is? 🤔 Let us know in the comments below!

A vintage electricity distribution pillar has been lovingly restored after 124 years thanks to a campaign from a local man. 💡 Howard Bayley, of Friends of Wardsend Cemetery got in touch with us after seeing the deterioration of a cast iron pillar on Greystones Road in Sheffield, which was in poor state from many years of paint layers now peeling. After speaking with Tom Barnard, one of our Building and Civil Engineers, he discovered it was Grade II listed and with lots of work behind the scenes, it was successfully restored to its former glory. ➡️Read more here: https://ow.ly/lIBW50UrJAs

This week we sent a support team of 12 customer service ambassadors, two specialist customer support vehicles and 20 generators from Yorkshire, with driving teams, to support National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED) with its response to help communities in the #SouthWest and #Wales who continued to feel the impact of the devastation caused by #StormDarragh. Our teams from West and South Yorkshire were sent to help as soon as they could, following a busy weekend working hard and battling the storm to get the power safely back on for Northern Powergrid’s customers. Once the teams landed they were fully briefed by their colleagues at NGED, and headed into communities to help customers who were still without power due to the storm force winds and heavy rain which caused disruption and damage to their regional electricity network. 🫶Our teams have been working this week in #Taunton and #Carmarthenshire providing hot drinks, updates on progress, winter warmer packs and welfare facilities so customers can get updates and charge their mobile phones on Northern Powergrid’s specialist customer support vehicles. 🛻We also provided 20 generators, with two drivers from our Logistics team, to support NGED’s operational response and help get customers’ power back on as soon as possible whilst their teams worked to repair the damage caused by the storm. The support is part of NEWSAC - a vital UK energy industry mutual aid agreement. The agreement, which all UK electricity distribution companies have signed up to, provides additional strength to teams so power can be restored as soon as possible, and customers can be supported when networks are damaged by severe weather. Louise Lowes, our Director of Customer Service, said: “Storm Darragh impacted our network and customers more severely than we expected, but not at the scale that our industry colleagues in the South West and Wales have seen. “On Tuesday, we successfully got the power back on to our few remaining customers affected by the storm, then we immediately turned our attention to how we could help those customers still impacted elsewhere in the UK. “We’re incredibly proud of our dedicated teams who have been out there supporting our colleagues in other parts of the UK and helping customers, particularly those who may be more vulnerable, and those communities that were hit hardest by Storm Darragh.” #StormDarrah #TeamPowergrid #MutualAid

⚡ Connections Reform⚡🔌 Big changes are ahead for major #connections customers. We're hosting a webinar with National Grid ESO to discuss the upcoming Connections Reform and what it will mean for embedded #DNO customers. 🔍What's on the agenda? • Proposed changes to the connections process 🔌 • Readiness criteria 🏗️ • Strategic planning 🤔 This session is essential for anyone seeking a connection to our #distribution network in the #NorthEast #Yorkshire and northern #Lincolnshire to understand how these reforms will impact your projects and how to prepare effectively. 🗓️ Date: Wed 18 December ⏰ Time: 13.30 - 14.30 👉 Sign up: https://ow.ly/zv4w50UqGv1 #PoweringOurRegion #Electricity #NetZero #Investment #FutureGrowth #FirstReady #Power #Stakeholders

They've only gone and smashed it in the back of the net! ⚽🙌 In November we shared the amazing news about Connections Technician Cory Walkington, who scored the chance to meet some former England International football players to 'shave down' ahead of Movember. Connecting with Gillette Ambassador Ian Wright - alongside Jamie Carragher, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon, Cory and his fellow 'Team Brid and Boro' members spent last month raising thousands of pounds for the men's mental health charity, with Cory personally raising over £1,500, which now totals over £4,000 in the last five years. Taking on challenges such as running from Elland Road in Leeds, to Bridlington Spa in less than 24 hours, the team raised a whopping £22,000 - finishing in the top three sports teams across the country.🥉 This now takes their team total to £53,000 in only a few years of raising money as a team. 🏆 Well done, Cory and 'Team Brid and Boro' - we're so proud of you! To find out more about Movember and the team's fundraising efforts visit: https://lnkd.in/ecwqcejV 📸Photo courtesy of Matty Woodcock @thenorthuk - Instagram. #Movember #ForceForGood #PoweringLives

We’re pleased to announce a funding award for the Flex-Store project, which will help facilitate the move from gas to electricity and aid the transition to net zero. 💡 As the project lead on Flex-Store, we’re working with the University of Birmingham, WSP and Together Housing. This innovation will enhance grid stability and provide backup during supply disruptions. The project is funded through the Strategic Innovation Fund, an Ofgem programme managed in partnership with Innovate UK. This award comes at a pivotal time, as the industry looks to increase resilience and keep the lights on for customers. The Flex-Store approach will also ensure more reliable heating for vulnerable customers, save money, reduce peak demand and improve grid flexibility – a crucial component to successfully hitting #NetZero. 💚⚡ https://lnkd.in/dhHq8RNU #Energy #Collaboration #Resilience #Innovation #Flexibility

Removing fallen by storm Darragh trees from our overhead power lines. Last night winds were quite strong especially at 5. am when walking through large flat fields of East Ridings of Yorkshire. Great feeling to see sleeping village getting their power back on and all Christmas decorations lit up again! Thanks to Avove tree cutting teams and Keltbray Linesmen for their help.

#StormDarragh Power restored to all customers Following the strong winds across Saturday and Sunday, we’ve now restored power to all remaining customers affected by Storm Darragh. We want to thank our customers for their patience while we worked to get their power back on as quickly as possible. At a glance: - Over 120,000 power cuts, affecting 80,000 customers. - 650+ engineers and hundreds of support staff working around the clock. - 4,800 hot meals served and hundreds of Just Eat vouchers issued. - 1 million+ texts sent to keep customers updated. - 7,200+ customer calls answered by our contact centre. North Yorkshire’s rural communities were worst affected with fallen trees, flooding, and debris making access difficult, but our teams stepped up - patrolling by foot and helicopter to get the job done safely. Our teams were also out in communities, checking on customers and offering hot drinks and a place to charge their phones. Steve McDonald, Northern Powergrid’s Director of Field Operations, said: “Whilst not impacted as much as some other parts of the country, Storm Darragh was much more severe than we first anticipated. "The wind speeds across the whole weekend made it incredibly challenging for our teams, but as soon as it was safe, we got out there to repair the damage. “The team has done a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances. “We want to say thank you to our customers for their patience and kind words - especially when it came to understanding the need to keep our people safe.”

Our teams are working hard to restore our last few remaining customers who are without power due to #StormDarragh. Our customer service responders are in the affected community updating and supporting customers and our teams will not stop until their power is back on.