PEOPLE across Northern Ireland who were left without electricity due to the impacts of Storm Éowyn earlier this year will not receive compensation from their power provider.
Following discussions between the Northern Ireland Executive and electricity provider NIE Networks it has been confirmed that there is “no existing route” for payments to be made to customers for the disruption and damage caused by the storm.
When Storm Éowyn hit Northern Ireland on January 24 it was the most severe storm ever recorded in the region.
It brought winds of more than 90 mph and caused widespread damage, mostly resulting from trees striking overhead electricity wires.
Fallen trees block a road during Storm Eowyn on January 24, 2025 near Templepatrick in Co. AntrimNearly 326,000 homes and businesses lost power due to the storm, which caused damage at roughly 3,000 individual locations across the North.
Following the storm, Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill called on electricity provider NIE Networks to “look at at the issue of compensation” claiming “it is important that people are supported through these difficult days”.
As a result a working group involving the Department for the Economy, NIE Networks, and the Utility Regulator was established to consider compensation payments for electricity customers most affected by power outages, including options where compensation payments would be recovered through customer electricity bills.
This week the group reported back on those discussions, confirming its findings that “there is currently no existing route to make payments to customers”.
Nearly 326,000 homes and businesses lost power in Northern Ireland as a resulf of the storm“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 Department for the Economy spokesperson said.
“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.”
They added: “If NIE Networks was to voluntarily decline to apply the severe weather exemption, customers would pay 50 per cent of the cost of compensation through their electricity bills next year and NIE shareholders would have to agree to bear the rest.
“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 and NIE was not at fault for the disruption caused by the storm.”
A spokesperson for the working group confirmed that all parties involved in the discussions 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”.
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