Priority register

Power company SSEN Distribution is reminding everyone of the free help and support offered by its Priority Services Register.

While everyone relies on electricity, from the day-to-day essentials such as heating homes and running a business all the way through to making a hot drink when watching television.

But for some people, it is 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 provides its Priority Services Register (PSR), which 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: “In our South Caledonia region, which includes Tayside, we have over 66,000 customers already signed up, but we’re always keen to make sure that nobody who is eligible is missing out.

“Being on the PSR can offer 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.

“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 to please get in touch with us.”

Customers are eligible 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 or are categorised at ‘high risk’ or ‘extremely high risk’ of severe illness from coronavirus.

Further information can be found at ssen.co.uk/priorityservices.