Twenty overhead lines staff and three supervisors drawn from NIE teams based across Northern Ireland will be adding their skills to a repair force drawn from across the UK and Ireland.

The teams will be travelling in specialist landrovers, vans and lorries carrying equipment used to repair overhead power lines. Kevin McDowell, NIE Fault & Emergency Manager, said, “This is the second time in a month that we have been able to help out our colleagues in Scotland. In December, we sent crews to Oban to repair overhead power lines following hurricane force winds.

Our teams will be catching the ferry this afternoon, travelling up to Glasgow tonight and then will start repair work first thing tomorrow.

Fortunately, the Scottish network companies have been able to restore electricity to most customers, but there are parts of their network that need rebuilt to ensure the security of those electricity supplies. This is the work that we will be involved in".