A report into the blackouts in August that affected more than one million customers – including residents and businesses in Oakham and surrounding villages – has been published today (Fri).

The Energy Emergencies Executive Committee (E3C) report unveils government-backed plans to strengthen Great Britain's power network and make it more resilient to outages in future.

Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom has confirmed the action plan from today's E3C report will be implemented in full, to help prevent and manage future power disruptions.

The report was requested by Ms Leadsom following the power outage of 9 August and it focuses on the areas of highest impact before, during and after the incident.

Power was restored to disconnected customers within 45 minutes, but the knock-on impact to essential services such as rail were felt for several days after.

Ms Leadsom said: "The disruption caused to people and businesses by the power cut in August was unacceptable.

"However, customers can be confident that we have one of the most robust energy systems in the world and today's report will help us reduce the risks of it happening again and ensure our energy sector is better prepared in the future.

"As the UK works to eradicate its contribution to climate change by 2050, the actions in this report will form part of a wider package of work already underway across government and industry to ensure the UK's energy system remains resilient as we transition to clean and affordable energy."

The action plan includes:

• reviewing the pros and cons of requiring National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) to hold additional back-up generation

• rolling out new communications processes to ensure the general public receives regular updates during any future disruptions

Ofgem has also published the conclusions of its own investigations into the incident last August today, focusing on lessons learnt for the energy sector and voluntary payments totalling £10.5 million for companies involved in the power outages.

The E3C will take the actions set out in its report, along with the findings from Ofgem's investigation, to drive forward changes across the sector.