If you lost power for more than 24 hours (which a lot of us in the Lancaster and Morecambe did) you can claim a one off payment from Electricity North West of £70.

You need to fill in a claim form called a goodwill payment from here.

Here is an example of what the team have been doing at CItizens Advice in filling in the form: date power went off – 5/12/2015, time power went off 22:30, date power back on 7/12/2015, Time the power came back on 5.30.

All in 24 hour clock and you must use : between the hour and minutes. Try and work out the total amount you were without power for some were 31 hours others were 36 or more.

It’s been suggested by some people that we shouldn’t make a claim from Electricity North West because the nice engineers worked so hard, but Virtual-Lancaster reader Michael Gibson has pointed out that ENW is the subsidiary of a Jersey based company established for tax avoidance purposes.

“The owners are JP Morgan,” he notes, “an American bank fined billions for its role in the 2008 banking crisis, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

“In 2014/15 they had a turnover of over £500 million on which they made a gross profit of £300 million. However they paid their Jersey subsidiary and lenders £200 million in interest, which cut their profits and income tax considerably. They have £161 million in cash in the bank.”

“They are a monopoly that we used to own that now sucks millions out of the country to wealthy investors overseas. They are also insured to the eyeballs.

“You owe them nothing.”

Michael suggests claiming and giving the money to charity.

“If we all claimed and got £70 per household we could collectively donate £4.2 million to a charity of our choice,” he points out – and he has some suggestions, too.

“Marsh Community Centre needs funds urgently to avoid closure,” he notes. “The Dukes needs £3 million to repair its buildings. The Lancashire and Cumbria flood appeals need money.

“Or if you’ve lost out and want to keep it, do so. Help redistribute money from the rich to the poorer.”

By Uncategorized2 Comments on ENW's Goodwill Payment Scheme – and why power cut residents should claim it

2 Replies to “ENW's Goodwill Payment Scheme – and why power cut residents should claim it”

  1. Looking at the OFGEM rules, if they (the met office?) decide it was a severe storm it looks like 48 hours could be the magic number. Would it be cynical to speculate that ENW would be quids in if they had temporarily switched the power back on, knowing full well that it would risk blowing the substation, to avoid the 48 hour compensation trigger point?

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