ESO: About 1,200 customers remain without power in Lithuania

About 1,200 customers in Lithuania remained without electricity on Monday morning, two weeks after a storm swept across the country.

Rasa Juodkienė, a representative of electricity distribution operator ESO, told LRT radio that about a quarter of the affected customers were at unoccupied properties. She said electricity supply had been restored to 99.5% of customers and repair work was continuing.

“Each day, this number is steadily decreasing. The areas are swampy and the network has been destroyed, so the situation is not simple,” Juodkienė said.

ESO increased compensation last week for residents who suffered direct losses from the storm. The maximum payment depends on how long power restoration took: up to 220 euros for outages lasting three to six days, up to 440 euros for seven to 13 days, and up to 660 euros when restoration took 14 days or longer.

Juodkienė said ESO had received about 4,000 applications for state support. The first compensation payments were expected to reach residents on Monday.

The storm on Aug. 22 brought down trees across many parts of Lithuania. One person died and four were injured. At the peak of the disruption, more than 268,000 ESO customers had lost electricity, and the operator recorded more than 11,000 faults in the electricity network.

The government declared a national-level emergency over the storm’s consequences and the losses suffered by farmers.

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Each day, this number is steadily decreasing. The areas are swampy and the network has been destroyed, so the situation is not simple.