By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor Power firms have been ordered to pay another £3.3million for leave families in the dark at Christmas. Regulator Ofgem said SSE and UK Power Networks (UKPN) must pay the extra compensation - taking the total sum to £8million - after a probe into how they handled power cuts during last winter's storms. In a crackdown on firms who are too slow in getting the lights back on, Ofgem also said it was more than doubling the compensation for households left without power for more than 24 hours. Power firms were told to 'learn the lessons' of last winter's devastating storms, which cut of power and left thousands of homes under water
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SSE and UK Power Networks have now been fined a total of £8million
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Almost 16,000 families were left without power for more than 48 hours
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Ofgem says: 'A power cut at Christmas time is the last thing anyone needs'
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Minimum compensation for 24-hour power cuts to rise from £27 to £70
Ofgem said: 'The companies have recognised that they must improve their procedures for any future major interruption and @placeholder has today put the industry on notice that any repeat of last year's performance issues will trigger further action.'