Storm Éoywn: Higher bills from compensation not an option, says minister

BBC News

11-03-2025

The Economy Minister said compensation for those affected by Storm Éowyn would have had a significant impact on customer bills. Caoimhe Archibald said the potential pathways and options were "explored" but under the current regulatory framework, none of those were viable. Storm Éowyn brought winds of more than 90mph to Northern Ireland on 24 January, damaging electricity and telecoms infrastructure.The first and deputy first ministers had called on Northern Ireland's electricity distribution company (NIE Networks) to "step up" and provide support.
Speaking in New York City, Archibald told BBC Evening Extra programme that her concern, as minister, was "entirely about the consumers" and higher bills were "not an option". "The potential pathways and options were explored and would impact on consumer bills, and that is something that would not be very appreciated by many customers, that the impact would be felt both in terms of NIE as a business and its cost of capital which would impact on consumer bills."She said alternative options that were looked at would mean "consumers would essentially absorb the costs". "Neither of those, in my view, were the right way to go because the cost would have been borne by consumers in both those situations," Archibald added. Archibald said one of the challenges in putting a compensation scheme in place was that having a "small population" would mean the impact of compensation and the amount of customers impacted by Storm Éowyn would mean that the "cost could be quite significant on customers".
Archibald said the aftermath of Storm Éowyn has shown that "we need to look at the lessons for the future" but said there were also positives. "There's a lot of learning of things that went well and potential things that need to be addressed."I think that NIE and other utility providers were obviously in a very difficult situation and dealing with the aftermath...I think the response were we did get that support from Britain and other European states as well to support the repairs, there was lots of positives there."
Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) is regulated by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation (NIAUR) and the Department for the Economy (DfE). When asked if the regulatory framework in Northern Ireland should be changed in law, Archibald said a consultation on the framework is "still being analysed". But said "we do need to look at what the options are to support consumers but protecting customers has to be what drives us in all of that".
On Monday, NIE said it worked with the Department for the Economy (DfE) and the Utility Regulator to assess the viability of the creation of a severe weather compensation scheme.The DfE said that had NIE Networks not applied the severe weather exemption, customers would pay 50% of the cost of compensation through their electricity bills next year and NIE shareholders would have to agree to "bear the rest".It added that "no other electricity company shareholders in Britain or Ireland" had been asked to bear the cost of compensation for Storm Éowyn.Broadband firm Fibrus said it will pay customers compensation for disruption caused by Storm Éowyn.Domestic customers will receive £5 a day for service interruptions that lasted more than 48 hours, while business customers will receive £10 a day.Insurance cover and compensation can vary significantly depending on the impact and individual policy details.