CUSTOMERS have received compensation cheques from Northern Powergrid following power disruption, but in some cases the cheques have been addressed to the wrong payee, or states the incorrect compensation amount.

The company issued a statement which said: "On December, 24 we are pleased to confirm that we have now issued Storm Arwen compensation cheques to all those customers where we already had a full set of information necessary to make a payment."

Amount of compensation received is dependent on how long you were without power. "If you were without power for more than 48 hours, the compensation payment will be £70 after the first 48 hours and £70 for every 12 hours beyond that."

However, there have been reports by Northern Powergrid customers the cheque that was received is either made out to the wrong payee name, or is significantly less than the amount of compensation they were owed.

Hayley Turner, one resident left without power, said the real issue with insufficient compensation is that "people are genuinely out of pocket" after meal expenses, paying higher petrol expenses, and losing full fridges of food.

Richard Palmer, a spokesperson for those seeking compensation, said: "Whilst we welcome the efforts of the company to get cheques out the door before Christmas we're a bit dismayed at the high instance of errors."

"According to a survey across Tynedale which we started on Monday, December 20, approximately 20% of customers who have received a cheque so far have received either the wrong amount or the payee is wrong or both, like in our situation."

"The problem is that they are relying on records from a reporting system that was clearly broken. We reported our powercut online the moment it happened but then had to re-report it two days later when we discovered that the system had dropped our incident."

"As it is, those with delayed payments are probably not going to see the money in their accounts until well into January. That money is desperately needed."

A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said: “We have proactively issued around 24,000 compensation payments over the last week. If any of our customers believe they are due more compensation than they have been sent, our advice is that they cash the cheque they have already received then contact us by emailing Compensation-queries@northernpowergrid.com."

"If they provide details outlining the times they were off supply we will fully review, and where additional compensation is due, organise the remaining payment to be issued as soon as we can. If their cheque has been made payable to the wrong name then they can also visit our dedicated Storm Arwen webpage and complete our online form to update their payee details. We will then issue another cheque."

"We apologise for any delay this may cause and thank our customers for their patience."