In mid-December 2022, temperatures varied massively across the course of just a few days.
Lows of -7℃ were recorded in Newcastle on 16th December and Southend on 17th December, thawing rapidly to a high of 13℃ in Newcastle and 14℃ in Southend on 19th December.
As a result, we saw a 70% rise in our expected daily leakage in the North East and a 133% increase in our Essex and Suffolk operating area.
The number of repair jobs doubled from what we’d expect to see in a normal December, and unfortunately, this meant interruption of supply to 18,723 homes.
Knowing this freeze-thaw event was coming - and learning lessons from previous events - we had our incident team established early.
This allowed us to take clear decisions as the situation unfolded, including checking vacant commercial properties for leaks, tankering water around our operating areas, and moving pallets of bottled water into strategic locations.
This included 152 pallets into Northumberland, where the area surrounding Ashington was severely impacted by an asset failure at one of our treatment works.
We set up a bottled water station at Ashington Leisure Centre for three days while customers experienced interruptions to supply, and deliveries of bottled water to more than 400 customers on our Priority Services Register.
Throughout the incident, we kept customers informed - sending more than 800,000 emails, nearly 150,000 text messages, and posting information and responding directly to queries on social media.
We also worked closely with stakeholders in our operating areas - including MPs, local authorities and business representatives, housing providers and voluntary sector groups to make sure they had all the information and advice to share with their contacts.
Our rapid response meant we received just eight written complaints relating to the freeze-thaw event.