A GROUP, which was set up to assess whether people affected by Storm Éowyn could be eligible for compensation, said that individual payments “cannot be applied retrospectively” to people.
Fermanagh was hit particularly hard by the storm, which caused widespread damage and issues.
The group, which included members of the Department for the Economy, NIE Networks, and the Utility Regulator, was set up to consider whether people affected were eligible for compensation.
The Stormont Executive has said there’s no existing route to make payment to individual people.
“NIE Networks has applied a severe weather exemption provided for in legislation under which customers can apply for compensation if they have been off electricity supply,” a statement read.
“The working group concluded that any other options involving recovery of payments from network charges would require legal or regulatory modifications which cannot be applied retrospectively for those customers impacted by Storm Éowyn.”
The working group said that NIE Networks was “not at fault” for the widespread power outage.
“If NIE Networks was to voluntarily decline to apply the severe weather exemption, customers would pay 50% of the cost of compensation through their electricity bills next year. NIE shareholders would have to agree to bear the rest,” the working group said.
“No other electricity company shareholders in Britain or Ireland have been asked to bear the cost of compensation for Storm Éowyn which was an unprecedented weather event.
“NIE was not at fault for the disruption caused by the storm.”
Plans are already in place so that the responsible organisations will be better equipped to deal with storms and adverse weather conditions.
“All bodies involved in the response to Storm Éowyn will be considering lessons learned and the need to consider appropriate and affordable measures to strengthen resilience to reduce the impact of future severe weather events,” added the statement.
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