Regular Powercuts

garyhopef2s

Hello,

Where I live there powercuts one or twice a month and also dimming of lights (possibly brownouts ?). This has damaged a few our our electrical devices, mainly two Sky Boxes and a PC Hard drive. Is there anyway I can complain about this to get the problem resolved once and for all and maybe even get our damaged items replaced? I was with Npower until recently when we have switched to British Gas. Would it be one of them, NEDL or someone else? Might it be worth informing our local councillor or the like?

regards

Gary

lemontart

are these power cuts effecting just your property or others ?

If just yours may be a problem with your electrics if other props effected then it would be you local electricity distribution company not your supplier, this distribution company can be found on your bill or by checking the information pages in the front of your telephone book.

The distribution company will remain the same regardless of which supplier you use .

Terrylw1

Hi,

The physical supply is not maintained by your Supplier and there is really little they can do. Your elec is maintained by the Local Distributor Network Operator, which as you say is NEDL.

The standards of service for all parties, Suppliers, distributors, etc for elec can be found in here. There is a lot in here about their obligations, but the tables of standards will be the bext place to start.

http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Networks/ElecDist/QualofServ/GuarStandds/Pages/GuarStandds.aspx

Andy_WSM

garyhopef2s wrote: »

Hello,

Where I live there powercuts one or twice a month and also dimming of lights (possibly brownouts ?).

I get the problem where I live so have purchased a couple of UPSs to protect the sensitive appliances in the house and to keep the time on the bedside clocks etc. Problem solved for me.

Not sure there is any compensation for a short power cut, only if it is off for more than 14 hours. The supply company do have to maintain the power within certain voltage limits. I have measured the voltage myself and it varies between about 218V & 248V which I think is just within limits, but noticeable that your lights appear "dim" sometimes.

wolvotim

Andy_WSM wrote: »

I get the problem where I live so have purchased a couple of UPSs to protect the sensitive appliances in the house and to keep the time on the bedside clocks etc. Problem solved for me.

Not sure there is any compensation for a short power cut, only if it is off for more than 14 hours. The supply company do have to maintain the power within certain voltage limits. I have measured the voltage myself and it varies between about 218V & 248V which I think is just within limits, but noticeable that your lights appear "dim" sometimes.

Even though your voltage is within parameters (216-253) there is a parameter that measures voltage variation within the tolerance levels over a period of time. This is called flicker this may be what you are experiencing

garyhopef2s

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Its affecting everyone in my street not just our house. When the light go dim the clocks tend to reset and people alarms in the street go off, but the tv, etc stay on and it only lasts for about 3 to 5 seconds. Its more annoying when the power goes off completely for 20mins or so as this seems to screw up our sky box, etc. I thought about buying some UPSs but I cant really afford it at the moment

cheers

Gary

wolvotim

garyhopef2s wrote: »

Hi,

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Its affecting everyone in my street not just our house. When the light go dim the clocks tend to reset and people alarms in the street go off, but the tv, etc stay on and it only lasts for about 3 to 5 seconds. Its more annoying when the power goes off completely for 20mins or so as this seems to screw up our sky box, etc. I thought about buying some UPSs but I cant really afford it at the moment

cheers

Gary

Sounds like you got a mains fault brewing you probably find that at some point you will go off completely and your electricity board will be digging the footpath someware.


Unfortunately it’s very difficult to find an intermittent fault and until it blows completely they won’t have much luck finding it untill then and would probably cause more inconvenience by digging numerous pot luck holes hoping to find the fault