EDF Error causes power surge & fire

Purplenodle

Hello,

On thursday night the power to my parents house and four other neighbours went out. EdF came out and after several hours got the power back on. This caused a massive surge to all the properties affected because the workmen crossed wires and put the live through the neutral - bypassing the fuses with a massive amount of power. In all properties most electrical goods experienced power surges and went "bang" and phone lines were put out. Worst of all, my parents washing machine caught fire and had to be removed before the house burnt down.

What compensation are they entitled to? Reps from EDF came out and took away many portable electrical goods to be repaired, but who decides if a replacement is owed instead? The fridges were also out the entire time and now not working so contents were also ruined. My dad runs a business form home and is now without his PC which holds all his work - with VAT returns looming, this could not have happened at a worse time.

To add insult to injury, there were 16 men with 8 vans on sight trying to correct the problem for several hours yesterday and today, most of the time occupied with who was making the next round of tea. :mad:

Surely for such a catalogue of errors and for such a serious incident, there must be some form of compensation due for the damage and hardship caused, not to mention the impact on his work? Any and all help greatly appreciated

jd87

As far as I know there aren't really any strict rules or regulations governing how a situation like this is dealt with. You and EDF just need to sort it between yourselves and if you aren't getting the compensation you want then the small claims court would be the next step. The regulator won't be interested because basically "!!!! happens", there is probably nobody at fault and this is what home insurance is for anyway.

dogshome

Hi purplenodle - OK. Make a list of every single appliance that has been damaged with it's cost and every single expense you have been put to - including postage/phone calls
Unless your Dad's computer actually caught fire, it's probable that it's Hard Drive info. can be recovered and loaded onto a new machine at yet another cost.
List every single item with it's cost, total it up and send it with a letter headed Complaint to EDF, with a rider that you regard this as a claim that is still subject to any further malfunction of your house wiring and it's fittings and appliances.

Keep a very close eye on your Elec. meter to see that it is still recording your usual use patterns and has not been damaged
I suspect that EDF's gathering up of damaged appliances has more to do with fixing a cut-off point for claims than repairing damage, as repair costs are likely to outweigh the cost of a new appliance. So if replacements are offered, make sure it's like for like and you are not being offered say, a cheap Beko
W/machine to replace your 2 year old Miele