SSEN Distribution has announced a £900,000 investment in Dunblane to upgrade its infrastructure in the east side of the town, making customers supplies more robust and resilient, and also increasing network capacity to support the growth in EV chargers, heat pumps and other low carbon technologies.

The essential work will see teams replacing over 8km of the town's existing underground cables and installing new equipment in eight of the local substations, with this £900,000 investment set to benefit homes and business in the east side of Dunblane for many years to come.

Work is set to be carried out in two phases, with the first due to start on 15 April and be completed in June; the second phase, which will start after the completion of Phase One, is currently at the planning stage, but it is expected to start shortly after Phase One ends.

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Phase One will include sections of Glen Road, Leewood Road, The Crescent and Ochlochy Park, with  Phase Two taking in the Fourways Roundabout, Perth Road, Beech Road and Bleaching Park.

Speaking ahead of the works, SSEN Distribution's Project Manager, Gary Edwards said: "We're committed to providing a safe, secure and reliable supply of electricity to our customers and this £900,000 investment will not only help to boost resilience of supplies for our existing customers, it's also designed to take into account the future expansion of homes and businesses in Dunblane for many years to come.

"By replacing over 8km of underground cable and carrying out upgrades at eight of the local substations, we're not only making the network in this part of Dunblane stronger and so minimising the risk of power cuts, our project is also going to increase network capacity, which is a major enabler of the country's net zero ambitions as it supports customers as they transition to low carbon technologies such as EVs and heat pumps."

Mark Westwood, SSEN Distribution's Customer Relationship Manager, said:

"For everyone's safety, it'll be necessary to either close or partially close the sections of road where, and when, our work will be taking place. All work which requires diversions or traffic management will be signposted in advance, giving our local customers and commuters as much notice as possible.

"We realise that any time we're carrying out essential work on the public highway it can also bring the potential to disrupt our customers' day-to-day routines, and so we'd like to apologise in advance if we cause any inconvenience, and also thank customers for their patience."