ESB Networks has said that, on day five of its power restoration efforts, 168,000 homes, farms and businesses are awaiting supply restoration as of 11:30a.m this morning (Tuesday, January 28).

Over 600,000 customers who lost power have now had electricity supply restored in the time since Storm Éowyn struck the country last Friday (January 24), which left 768,000 customers without supply.

In providing an update today the ESB has again stressed the importance of safety to the general public around fallen or damaged electricity infrastructure.

The ESB said there are still many faults on the electricity network, and it has been made aware of several instances of potentially very dangerous incidents where members of the public of unknowingly approached fallen electricity infrastructure.

Fallen debris after a storm can prevent people from seeing hidden risks such as wires entangled into trees and branches. If you come across fallen wires or damaged electricity network, never, ever touch or approach these as they are live and extremely dangerous.

In order to support ESB Networks and its partner contractors in their restoration efforts, technicians from Britain have been deployed to the worst impacted areas, the ESB said.

Further support has also arrived from Austria and Finland this morning, while additional crews from electricity network operators in Netherlands and France are due to arrive over the coming days.

In addition, ESB Networks crews from the south and east of the country are also being redeployed to the worst impacted areas once restoration in their areas has been completed, while skilled retirees from ESB Networks are also being redrafted to assist, the state body said.

ESB Networks also said that its customer contact centre has doubled its resources to accommodate a high volumes of calls since January 23.

ESB Networks has published estimated restoration times for most of its faults on the PowerCheck website, which are currently the most accurate indications, based on fault site assessments, of when customers can expect to have their power restored. 

The state body said that it anticipates that the vast majority of customers who lost power during Storm Éowyn will have power restored by this Friday (January 31). For the remaining customers, these will progressively have power restored over the course of the next week. This could be as many as 100,000 customers.

"We acknowledge the disruption to family and commercial life this causes and thank customers across the country who remain without power for their patience as our crews work to safely restore power," ESB Networks said.

Meanwhile, Uisce Éireann is also making progress with re-establishing water supply for its customers.

31,000 people across 11,500 premises are without water as of lunchtime today, compared to 84,000 people at a similar time yesterday (Monday, January 27).

Uisce Éireann has said that, after "huge efforts" , it has deployed and installed generators at almost all of the plants, pumping stations and reservoirs where it is feasible to do so.

A final few are being added today to further reduce the number of customers without water.

Uisce Éireann said it is continuing to work closely with the ESB to prioritise the restoration of electricity supply in the remaining locations.