A SCOTTISH energy provider has been accused of acting in a “reprehensible” way by refusing to provide generators to rural communities in the Borders if there are  power outages this winter.

Members of Scottish Borders Council agreed on Thursday (December 15) to use local authority reserves to purchase a stock of small portable generators.

During Storm Arwen, which struck large parts of the UK between November 25 and 29 last year, a series of large scale and prolonged power failures were created across the Borders and the latest move is an attempt to prevent a repeat of that.

But the fact that the local authority needed to take such action angered Mid Berwickshire councillor Mark Rowley, who condemned energy provider Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) for failing to step into the breach.

He said: “The case is that Scottish Power Energy Networks, who are responsible for providing the energy supply in this area, have told our emergency planning officers that should they go to planned three-hour outages, they will not, Scottish Power Energy Networks, will not – they have taken a choice – provide the generators that they have and that they would normally provide when power lines come down.

“So in fact this expenditure and this effort which the council is commendably going to is a reaction to a warning from Scottish Power Energy Networks that they will potentially cut our supplies for three hours at a time.

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“I think that decision is incredibly reprehensible from an energy provider in a rural network at the heart of winter.”

Tweeddale West councillor Drummond Begg added: “It is a small amount coming from reserves but it is a question of who pays. I agree with all that has been said about generators being important but the question is do we go with a flush-with-cash council or a hard-up energy company? Or have I got that the wrong way round?

“I wonder if we should come together with other rural councils, through COSLA (the voice of local government in Scotland), and go back to Scottish Power Energy Networks, which is responsible for delivering energy to its customers. It’s a difficult one and I appreciate that winter is here and we have to make a decision and there are real people here caught between a rock and a hard place and as ever, as a thoughtful, well-meaning council who care about the people we serve, of course we are stepping up yet again into a gap when a commercial organisation is, I agree, acting reprehensibly.

“I would make a plea that we go back to them urgently and ask them to think again.”

It was agreed that the council write to the energy provider to request that it reconsiders its decision.

Fifteen generators will be split with three each in Duns, Hawick, Kelso, Newtown St Boswells and Peebles. They will cost up to £1,670 each.

SPEN said that it always endeavoured to provide an emergency supply to homes cut off during storms and other emergencies. A spokesman said: “We will work closely with the council if there are any national grid shortages.”