Minister to bring forward storm compensation law

Stormont's economy minister is to develop plans to make compensation a legal right for households which lose electricity supplies during extreme weather.

That is despite the independent Utility Regulator saying it is not the right time to do so.

The regulator said money could be better spent making the electricity network more resilient to severe weather.

It also raised concerns that compensation costs could be passed through to all consumers via higher electricity bills.

Northern Ireland is currently the only part of the UK which does not have a compensation scheme.

The grid owner, NIE Networks, is exempted from meeting usual supply standards during periods of severe weather.

That led to humiliation for Executive ministers in the wake of Storm Éowyn last year.

The first and deputy first ministers had called for NIE Networks to make voluntary compensation payments, but it declined to do so.

The minister, Caomihe Archibald, said: "Storm Éowyn highlighted the need for stronger protections for customers affected by prolonged power outages.

"I have therefore instructed my officials to bring forward policy proposals to remove the severe weather exemption, while minimising costs for all consumers."

She added that "detailed proposals" will be brought forward before next year's Assembly election.

At this stage it is not clear how much compensation would be on offer and to what extent it be funded by NIE Networks shareholders and how much of it would be socialised across all customers' bills.

"Policy costs" have become an increasingly large element of electricity bills.

These are parts of the bill which do not reflect electricity usage but instead are funding policies such as renewable electricity subsidies.