Scottish utility SSE said yesterday it expected electricity production at the Glendoe hydro station to restart in the middle of this year.
The Perth-based firm previously said generation could resume in the first half of 2012, but said yesterday the process of refilling the reservoir at the £160million station in the hills above Loch Ness would not begin until spring.
Glendoe was closed in 2009 after a rockfall blocked the main tunnel carrying water from the reservoir in the Monadhliath Mountains above Fort Augustus to the turbine hall, just a few weeks after it was officially opened by the Queen.
SSE also said yesterday it had seen a slump in the consumption of gas, with usage for the nine months to December 31 down by 26.6% year-on-year, while electricity consumption was down 8.3%. Based on the new usage rates, it said the amount paid by the average household dual-fuel customer fell by £50 in the nine months to £760.
The group said it had 9.6million electricity and gas accounts in the UK and Ireland at the end of 2011, a fall of 50,000 year-on-year. It also said it expected annual adjusted profits to show similar growth to the past three years, suggesting a rise of about 2%.
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