OREANDA-NEWS. February 20, 2015. Local communities across central southern England are to benefit from a new million pound fund designed to help them prepare for severe winter weather. 

The new Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEPD) Resilient Communities Fund is open to non-profit making organisations, community groups and charities across the SEPD network area, and will support projects which help communities prepare for extreme weather situations. Applications for up to ?20,000 will be accepted, with an initial deadline of 17 April 2015.

SEPD has established the fund in recognition of the inconvenience caused by the disruption to its customers’ electricity supplies when severe storms swept across the UK during the winter 2013.  The collective impact of hurricane force winds, torrential rainfall and extensive flooding meant that many customers were without power for an extended period. The ?1m for the SEPD Resilient Communities Fund is in addition to ?2.5m paid out in compensation to customers, and to the ?1million donated to four national charities; British Red Cross, Age UK, Macmillan Cancer Support and National Energy Action, to provide additional assistance for ‘at risk’ households.

The Resilient Communities Fund will support projects that:

  • Protect the welfare of vulnerable customers during a significant power outage or emergency weather event                                           
  • Enhance community facilities and services that may be used or instigated in the event of a significant power outage or emergency weather event
  • Improve communication during an emergency situation to keep communities informed or aid contact between local groups and emergency services 

The fund will run over a two-year period between April 2015 and April 2017, with two funding rounds in each year. A panel comprising industry experts and external stakeholders will review the applications and make the final funding decisions. Preference will be given to submissions from areas which were most affected by the storms.

SEPD, which serves 2.9m customers in central southern England, recently invested ?1.1million in state of the art flood protection technology and a further ?95 million to make the network more resilient. Stuart Hogarth, Director of Distribution at SEPD said: “Despite being more than 99% reliable, we invest millions of pounds each year to strengthen the network against the severe battering it gets during severe weather. And we coordinate with emergency services and other agencies to ensure the welfare of our vulnerable customers, if there is a power cut caused by such weather conditions. Community groups play a tremendously vital role at a time like this. Volunteers give up their valuable time to help elderly neighbours, clear snow or work at a relief centre. Their efforts cannot be underestimated and we would like to support these groups in the work they do.”