Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN), the company responsible for the electricity distribution across central southern England, is reminding everyone of the free help and support offered by its Priority Services Register.
With over 750,000 customers living and working in SSEN’s South East region, which covers towns, cities and rural communities, including Chichester, Portsmouth, Aldershot and Basingstoke, there are over 155,000 customers signed up to the scheme which offers additional assistance, but SSEN is always keen to encourage residents to sign up for the free service.
We all rely on electricity, from the day-to-day essentials such as heating our homes and running a business, all the way through to those little pleasures such as making a hot drink when you watch TV; electricity is at the heart of our daily lives. But for some people, it’s more than that; they need electricity to power their stairlift, keep their baby’s milk bottles sterile or make sure their ventilator is working.
And for those customers with a particular reliance on electricity, SSEN’s Priority Services Register (PSR) offers extra care and support on the rare occasions there is a power cut.
The PSR can help by offering eligible customers:
- A dedicated 24-hour priority services phone number
- Priority updates during a power cut
- The option of nominating someone for SSEN to contact on their behalf
- Information in the format most suited, for example Braille or audio CD
- A security password to keep everyone safe
Louise Jones, SSEN’s Social Obligations Manager, said:
“Since the Priority Services Register first started seven years ago, we now have nearly 617,000 customers across central southern England benefitting from the free help and support it can offer. Being on the PSR can offer our customers the extra peace of mind that comes with knowing help is out there on the rare occasions there is a fault on our network, or if the risk of bad weather may cause damage to the electricity infrastructure and cause a power cut.
“For example, ahead of Storm Arwen we proactively contacted 118,585 customers prior to the weather event to make them aware of the potential for power cuts, and also in the days afterwards to check on their welfare and see if there was anything in particular we could do to help.
Article continues below this advertisement “We know there may still be customers who haven’t thought about signing up, and so I’d encourage everyone to take a few minutes to think about how they’d manage if the power was to go off unexpectedly, and if they think they’d need a bit of extra help please get in touch with us.”
Customers are eligible for SSEN’s Priority Services Register (PSR) if they:
- Are deaf or hard of hearing
- Have a disability
- Live with children under five
- Are blind or partially sighted
- Have a chronic illness
- Use medical equipment/aids reliant on electricity
- Are over 60
Are categorised at ‘high risk’ or ‘extremely high risk’ of severe illness from coronavirus
SSEN produces its Priority Services Register leaflets in 11 different languages, all of which are also available to read and download from its website.
For more information, please visit ssen.co.uk/priorityservices
That’s OK but how about investing in a network that has big enough capacity to cope with demand. And surprise surprise no power cuts over Christmas and New Year or should that be load shedding
how about ensuring that those of us who aren’t using this free service are given a discount for being given a less than equal service. That is not a free service, as the rest of us are paying for it, through higher electric prices.