Electricity customers in Northern Ireland affected by power outages during Storm Éowyn in January will not receive compensation payments, a working group has concluded.

The group, established by the Department for the Economy(DftE), NIE Networks, and the Utility Regulator, was tasked with exploring compensation options following widespread disruption on 24 January. However, they have determined that there is no existing legal or regulatory mechanism to make retrospective payments. A DftE spokesperson stated that NIE Networks had applied a severe weather exemption, as provided for in legislation, which allows customers to apply for compensation if they have been without electricity supply. The working group concluded that any alternative options, involving the recovery of payments through network charges, would necessitate legal or regulatory changes that cannot be applied retrospectively to those affected by Storm Éowyn.

"If NIE Networks was to voluntarily decline to apply the severe weather exemption, customers would pay 50% of the cost of compensation through their electricity bills next year and NIE shareholders would have to agree to bear the rest," the spokesperson explained. "No other electricity company shareholders in Britain or Ireland have been asked to bear the cost of compensation for Storm Éowyn which was an unprecedented weather event and NIE was not at fault for the disruption caused by the storm."

The spokesperson also confirmed that all bodies involved in the Storm Éowyn response will review lessons learned and consider measures to enhance resilience against future severe weather events.