Power cut compensation

picardygirl

dcpc2003 wrote: »

If I walk from Welling High Street to The Broadway at Bexleyheath I pass around 40 CCTV cameras that are there for 'public safety' reasons. I note the proliferation of Community Enforcement Officers who are empowered to detain me for littering, parking indiscretions or riding my bike on the pavement. But I see no hint of this surveillance at a site that provides power to 90,000 premises in the area.

No we don't need to redeploy troops, dig shark pits or put minefields around these sites but I'd expect a decent level of monitoring ie intrusion alarms, CCTV and fire sensors. This would not cost millions but would surely save many times that amount if they were to prevent what happened this week.

We are paying enough to the energy suppliers to expect them to provide a decent level of service that is not compromised by shoddy security at vulnerable sites. So no I wouldn't expect to pay more for something that should already be in place.

I await the results of the Police investigation with interest.

I agree !!

MissMoneypenny

picardygirl wrote: »

For the really unfortunate people in Dartford (i think parts of Slade Green came into that too) who were without power for the whole time, i do not think the £125 suffices (think thats the maximum claim - if claims are successful at all!)

Friends of mine in Dartford didn't get a generator in their area until Wednesday evening. They went from 1pm Monday until Thursday morning, without any power.

picardygirl

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

Friends of mine in Dartford didn't get a generator in their area until Wednesday evening. They went from 1pm Monday until Thursday morning, without any power.

I know a few people that were in exactly the same position. Apparently, if EDF agree compensation, the maximum they will be entitled to is £125 - disgusting!!!!

It was bad enough for 20 hours then 3 hours on and 6 hours off, but for nearly 4 days is a nightmare!

Evilution

The more I think about it, the more unlikely vandalism sounds.
Why would anyone venture so far into an industrial estate, break off a padlock just to start a fire on that particular bridge?
Fires happen quite often in power stations and high voltage cables, simply because of poor maintenance and lack of servicing. This sounds way more likely to me and EDF are are using vandalism as an excuse to get out of paying compensation.

EDF originally stated it was an underground cable problem which it wasn't.

I have spoken to a fireman from Dartford, he wasn't the first on the scene but he did say the padlock didn't look very robust. I reckon the fire brigade had to cut the lock off themselves to get to the fire.

After reading the EDF site it says the maximum claim is £200 and people affected will be receiving written correspondence soon about making a claim.

picardygirl

EDF's web site now states that will be offering goodwill gestures to those most affected and be written to in the next 7 -10 days - will wait with anticipation .....

SwanJon

I've fortunatley not been involved in something of this magnitude, but did have to put up with something simliar when a substation was reomved and a block of flats built on the site - totally down to the distributor, and you'd have thought they would have planned for it.
The issue is that if you find your connection agreement, you'll find that you are not guaranteed a continuous supply which doesn't make it any easier to live with.

picardygirl

There is another thread going on this but this is more appropriate regarding the Dartford incident last week.

EDF have today in this week's newsshopper said they will be writing to those who were affected, has anybody heard anything yet????

amberviolet

Yes I have a letter saying everyone that was without power for more than 24 hours continuously from 1300 hours on mon 20th july can claim £50.

Blackhat5_2

Aren't you entitled to more than that in Dartford anyway? Does this letter come from EDF? I thought it was £50 at 18 hours and then £25 for each 12 hours after that. Look at GS2 on the Consumer Focus website in the "Guaranteed Standards: Electricity Distribution" section in "Your energy questions".

My partner has kept a log of the times power was on in Northumberland Heath. One day we did have a 17.5 hour period with no power so EDF have carefully avoided the 18 hour point where the automatic fine kicks in.

Whilst we weren't as badly off as the people in Dartford, we had 15.5 hours of power in a 58 hour period, and power was on at unpredictable times. The times advertised in EDF's press releases for our postcode were a fiction.

I look forward to the release into the public domain of more details from the criminal investigation which support EDF's claim of vandalism.

If the compensation offered by EDF is derisory then someone will need to make the case to the regulator that they need to enforce the spirit of their regulations i.e. the supplier must not use generators, supplied to an absolute minimal amount, to prevent their incurring a larger fine.

The media repeated the press releases as if they were fact e.g. the times power would be on, how the fault was caused. No questions about why the grid isn't functioning like a grid, where the alternative supplies were to replace the outage, why generators were being used to avoid the 18 hour fine by switching in at 17.5 hours.

Dave

One night's sleep was totally messed up since our alarm and that of next door were sounding over a two hour period between 2am and 4am, and I had no idea how to deactivate our's without a ladder! And that's just the start of the incovenience we experienced...

amberviolet

The letter came from edf and i am in dartford. We had nothing from lunchtime on the monday until lunchtime on the thursday. I am disappointed at the pathetic amount they are offering but feel that its better than nothing and not sure even complaining we would get anymore. Does anyone feel it is worth taking further or just accept what happened?