Nausėda calls for clearer storm damage compensation rules

President Gitanas Nausėda says Lithuania must clarify its rules for compensating damage after a powerful storm left some consumers without electricity, LRT reported. He also said those responsible for inadequate communication by ESO must accept responsibility.

“We clearly need to refine the compensation procedure, because some people were needlessly angered when announcements began saying that the storm damage had supposedly been dealt with, even though this was essentially only a communication message and people still had no electricity,” Nausėda told journalists in Vilnius on Monday.

He said the storm had exposed shortcomings in certain capabilities and algorithms. However, its scale meant that it was not realistic to expect the consequences to be dealt with within two or three days, he said, adding that ESO had done what it could.

Naいsėda said the response had shown that electricity generators could help speed up and reduce the effects of such events. He said the country should significantly increase its generator capacity in the future.

Municipalities had learned different lessons about preparing for such incidents, the president said. Some had responded promptly and obtained generators from their own reserves and later from state reserves, while others had paid less attention to dealing with the storm’s consequences and more to public relations.

Naいsėda also said replacing overhead electricity lines in forested areas with underground cables would not be enough if a disaster of a similar scale occurred in the near future. Cable installation was a long-term effort, he said, while acquiring generators could be organised quickly and would allow the country to face another crisis or natural disaster better prepared.