No Electric - Can I get compensation ??

samtman

I have had no electric since 9.30pm last night when all our area in manchester got cut off. We still have no electric and I have just been informed we are looking at 11pm at the earliest (thats over 26 hours) before we get it back all my food has gone off I can't iron anything or have a shower or turn on the heating as I live in a flat with no gas just electric. Just come to my mums to get warm ??? can I claim anything for this like lost food or anything any help is appreciated. :mad:

Morseman

samtman wrote:

can I claim anything for this like lost food or anything any help is appreciated. :mad:

Unless you can prove negligence, the utility companies will tell you to claim on your household insurance.

The problem is likely to be a fault on the network somewhere. All sorts of ways that can happen (I used to be a standby engineer for a Utility company) from someone deliberately cutting something, I knew cases where people threw chains over the top of overhead lines! Or, an accident, or a bird/squirrel getting across a line. Then there are the digger drivers who ignore the plans and dig through cables etc., etc.

The only time you can claim something is if it was a planned shutdown, and they didn't tell you. In the case of sudden losses of supply, especially on bank holidays when most staff are on holiday anyway, I would suspect it was an unplanned outage due to a fault.

Standard advice is don't keep opening and shutting the fridge/freezer, have some alternative system for cooking, like a camping stove, although may be a bit dodgy in a flat of course, and spare a thought for the emergency crews who have now had to give up their day off to go and repair it...

I can remember that I spent one whole Christmas Day out mending faults and the abuse from people who really thought I'd arranged the fault on purpose and that I had nothing better to do than stand in the freezing cold on Christmas Day whilst a jointer tried to repair the link box that had blown up.

samtman

It was a fire in some sort of underground station

Morseman

If you need it, there's an emergency helpline for United Utilities at 0800 195 4141

oldwiring

samtman wrote:

I have had no electric since 9.30pm last night when all our area in manchester got cut off. We still have no electric and I have just been informed we are looking at 11pm at the earliest (thats over 26 hours) before we get it back all my food has gone off I can't iron anything or have a shower or turn on the heating as I live in a flat with no gas just electric. Just come to my mums to get warm ??? can I claim anything for this like lost food or anything any help is appreciated. :mad:

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/how_we_can_help/how_to_complain/index.asp may be of interest

Morseman

oldwiring wrote:

http://www.energywatch.org.uk/help_and_advice/how_we_can_help/how_to_complain/index.asp may be of interest

Which says

"When requesting compensation:
You do not have an automatic right to compensation apart from in a very small number of cases where special rules may apply. Therefore, your supplier will respond to any request for compensation based upon the circumstances of your case."

Energywatch will always advise you to contact your Supplier first, who will tell you it's nothing to do with them (which is not actually true, but the people on the helplines are not usually very well informed about the responsibilities of a Supplier to their customers, in my experience, and I used to work for a Supplier!) and that it's down to the Distribution Company, which is true from the point of view that they own and opperate the network that gets the electricity to you.

Energywatch will only get involved if you are in dispute with your Supplier, and will probably not be able to get any compensation for you, for the reasons I gave in my previous post.

Basically, unless your household insurance covers it, you are on an uphill struggle, and you may not get any money anyway...

--... ...--
Morseman

leccylite

Guaranteed Standards - one of the special cases.
Should you be off for more than 18 hours on a fault you are entitled to an automatic 50 pound payout. Contact the call centre and make sure they havethis in hand. Remember - the GS payment is from the DNO (Distribution Netowkr Operator) and not your supplier. I think (although others will know for sure) that Machester comes under United Utilities.

oldwiring

The Guarantees service standars are laid down by Ofgem