AS WINTER tightens its grip, almost £500,000 is being spent on improving the electricity network in Petersfield.

The work by Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) is in advance of a huge project next year to improve the power supply in the town centre.

So far £481,000 has been spent at 18 locations in the town on power sub stations and renewing and replacing underground cables in roads such as Moggs Mead.

An SSEN spokesman said: “In Petersfield teams have been replacing older equipment with the latest technology, and this will help to improve the resilience of the network and minimise the risk of power cuts.

The power company has also launched an an awareness campaign to help its customers also become ‘winter-ready’.

The ‘Ready For Winter’ campaign encourages SSEN customers to be prepared for winter, and to have ‘resilience’ plans in place ahead of any seriously bad weather.

Running until February 2017, it provides customers with practical tips on how to prepare for a power cut or emergency weather and promotes a new emergency number for reporting power cuts.

The easy-to-remember three-digit number, 105, will directly route customers to the network operator for their area.

SSEN head of customer operations for the South East, Chris Slingsby said: “We want customers to be safe in the knowledge that we are doing all we can to keep their power on this winter.

“We have made it a priority to arm them with the information and the services they need to see them through the worst that the British winter can throw at them.

“While the campaign runs through the winter months, our commitment to building the resilience of our networks - and the resilience of the communities who rely on those networks - runs throughout the year.”

And ‘Ready for Winer’ advice includes having an emergency bag packed, including a plug-in analogue phone which works in a power cut and important telephone numbers, and stored in a safe place.

For more information visit the website www.ssen.co.uk