- Storm Éowyn brought unprecedented, widespread and extensive damage to electricity infrastructure resulting in 768,000 customers losing supply on 24th January. This is by far the worst storm experienced by ESB Networks both in terms of customers losing supply and the scale of damage across the network.
- Important Public Safety Message: We have been made aware of several instances of potentially very dangerous incidents where members of the public have unknowingly approached fallen electricity infrastructure. Fallen debris after a storm can prevent people from seeing hidden risks such as wires entangled into trees and branches. If you come across fallen wires or damaged electricity network, never, ever touch or approach these as they are LIVE and extremely dangerous. Please report any damage to electricity infrastructure by calling 1800 372 999.
- Power restoration will continue late into the evening and will commence once again at first light tomorrow morning, and we expect to make good progress restoring supplies over the weekend and into next week, wind conditions permitting.
- The restoration time required for the storm response remains dynamic given the widespread and extensive damage to the network. Having restored power to 366,000 customers, we expect to restore power to a further 300,000 by Friday night, 31st January. For the remaining customers, these will progressively have power restored over the course of the following week. This will remain dynamic and weather conditions may impact on the restoration work.
- Estimated restoration times (ERTs) are being updated this evening and tomorrow, these will be available to view on ww.PowerCheck.ie and will be updated as our work progresses
Issued: 5:55pm on Saturday, 25th January 2025
Extreme, damaging and destructive winds associated with Storm Éowyn have caused widespread and extensive damage to the electricity network across the country. The impact on customers and damage to the electricity network nationwide is unprecedented. This is by far the worst storm experienced by ESB Networks both in terms of customers losing supply and the scale of damage across the network.
As at 5:00pm (25th January), approximately 402,000 homes, farms and businesses remain without power, ESB Networks teams have restored power to 366,000 customers since Friday afternoon.
Power restoration by all ESB Networks crews and partner contractors will continue late into the evening and will commence once again at first light tomorrow morning, and we expect to make good progress restoring supplies over the weekend and into next week, wind conditions permitting.
The restoration time required for the storm response remains dynamic given the widespread and extensive damage to the network. Having restored power to over 366,000 customers, we expect to restore power to a further 300,000 by Friday night, 31st January. For the remaining customers, these will progressively have power restored over the course of the following week. This will remain dynamic and weather conditions may impact on the restoration work.
Estimated restoration times (ERTs) are being updated this evening and tomorrow and will be available to view on ww.PowerCheck.ie and updated as our work progresses. We advise customers to sign up for our “Keep me Notified” service for power outages on www.PowerCheck.ie to receive status updates directly.
An Important Public Safety Message: We have been made aware of several instances of potentially very dangerous incidents where members of the public have unknowingly approached fallen electricity infrastructure. Fallen debris after a storm can prevent people from seeing hidden risks such as wires entangled into trees and branches. If you come across fallen wires or damaged electricity network, never, ever touch or approach these as they are LIVE and extremely dangerous. Please report any damage to electricity infrastructure by calling 1800 372 999.
It is important that any impacted customers who use electrically powered medical devices contact their healthcare professional to make alternative arrangements if necessary.
We acknowledge the disruption to family and commercial life this causes and thank customers across the country who remain without power for their patience as our crews work to safely restore power.
ENDS/
Notes to editor:
How ESB Networks restores power following a storm similar to Storm Éowyn:
Firstly, our crews make safe fallen, low hanging wires and other damage to electricity networks. This may mean that these lines have to be switched out until they can be repaired.
Where possible, we restore supply remotely from our National Distribution Control Centre using alternative power lines where available.
Prior to initiating repairs works, our Network Technicians carry out full assessments of network damage, so that power can be restored systematically and safely.
Crews are initially dispatched to repair lines that will return service to the largest number of customers in the least amount of time. ESB Networks focusses initially on high voltage transmission and medium voltage distribution lines where significant numbers of customers can be restored at once.
The next step is to restore the low voltage network that serves individual homes and smaller groups of customers. Typically, this is a slower process as there can be large numbers of small faults on a line serving a small cluster of customers, often less than ten properties. Each individual repair can be time consuming (clearing fallen trees, debris, broken poles etc) and only restores power to small customer numbers who are served by that low voltage line on the network.