Power Cuts

vix2000

Is it right that the energy ombudsman has ruled that the power companies don't have to compensate consumers for damage caused by power cuts that are their fault, and you have to use your own contents insurance (hence losing your no claims discount)?

mattcanary

Only right surely? Utility companies shouldn't be forced to pay themselves for something the customer has done wrong.

Pincher

What gets damaged if you have a power cut?
It's usually just spoilt food for me.
Life support machine?
Table saw not switched off, and comes back unexpectedly, slicing your hand in half?

This reminds me, they were talking about using the electric car battery for supplying peak demand on the National Grid, but it should work equally well for power cuts. This does mean that we need a isolator switch, so I can keep the power for myself during a power cut.

lemontart

I would imagine that some industry users may suffer a loss if power goes off but by that same reasoning if a loss of power was an issue to them I would imagine they would have some sort of back up generator for such issues - we have back up generators as we need power as I work for an emergency service

vix2000

mattcanary wrote: »

Only right surely? Utility companies shouldn't be forced to pay themselves for something the customer has done wrong.

May be I should have phrased it better. Power cuts that are the POWER COMPANYS fault. It has been off for most of the road since 3pm on Tuesday. Luckily as I am disabled I get to speak to a person when I ring, but it has been a cold miserable few days, and getting backwards and forwards to my daughters for meals and a bit of warmth has been a nightmare in 12" of snow. They were hoping to look at it this morning.

bloss0m

Sometimes it isnt there fault ie weather bringing down power cables builder going through cables (it happens)

I have had many power cuts one 4 years ago was on new years eve. Fortunately only lasted for a few hours at most

Fridges/freezers can last if not open for a few hours

vix2000

Not sure if they'll last 2 days though. I'm sure its not their fault, but its also not my fault that its been off 2 days. I'm getting the feeling that I should be thinking its OK to be paying for a service I'm not actually getting, and to accept the food wasted in my 2 freezers and the bricked linkstation I've only had for 2 weeks.

grahamc2003

vix2000 wrote: »

Not sure if they'll last 2 days though. I'm sure its not their fault, but its also not my fault that its been off 2 days. I'm getting the feeling that I should be thinking its OK to be paying for a service I'm not actually getting, and to accept the food wasted in my 2 freezers and the bricked linkstation I've only had for 2 weeks.

Why not look at things the other way, like many people in the world have to, and think yourself very lucky when your electricity is working? It's only that we (currently) have the most reliable electricity supply in the world that poeple simply take it for granted so much. It is complex to ensure that when you plug your kettle into a hole in the wall, you can make it boil, with an improbably high certainty (and all for about 1.5p). It usually takes pretty severe weather to knock out your supply.

Of course, this reliable system isn't going to last much longer. In just 4 to 6 years, many of our large coal and Nuclear stations will be started to be decommissioned, and currecntly there is nothing of substance to replace them in that timescale - so you'd be best to plan for power cuts becoming a regular feature, cruelly, just at the time of day you need it most.

Only don't blame the electricity supply industry for that state of affairs, blame successive governments who have paid lipservice to esi engineers, and formulated energy policy on the basis of radical (and totally misguided) so called 'environmental' organisations with several decades of anti-Nuclear campaigning, and recently anti-coal campiagning.

vix2000

grahamc2003 wrote: »

Why not look at things the other way, like many people in the world have to, and think yourself very lucky when your electricity is working? It's only that we (currently) have the most reliable electricity supply in the world that poeple simply take it for granted so much. It is complex to ensure that when you plug your kettle into a hole in the wall, you can make it boil, with an improbably high certainty (and all for about 1.5p). It usually takes pretty severe weather to knock out your supply.

Of course, this reliable system isn't going to last much longer. In just 4 to 6 years, many of our large coal and Nuclear stations will be started to be decommissioned, and currecntly there is nothing of substance to replace them in that timescale - so you'd be best to plan for power cuts becoming a regular feature, cruelly, just at the time of day you need it most.

Only don't blame the electricity supply industry for that state of affairs, blame successive governments who have paid lipservice to esi engineers, and formulated energy policy on the basis of radical (and totally misguided) so called 'environmental' organisations with several decades of anti-Nuclear campaigning, and recently anti-coal campiagning.

That is really not my point. Yes we are very lucky, although I wouldn't call what I pay for my electricity cheap.

My point is that If a plumber was working on your house and did something wrong that flooded your kitchen, and then said "its not my problem, mate, you need to claim on your contents insurance" you'd just say "ok, no problem"?
No, you'd expect him to claim on his public liability. Thats what its for. Or am I being completely delusional here?

davidgmmafan

I'm not sure you understand what a 'powr supplier' actually does. Whoever you are with, BG, NPower, EDF, it doesn't matter, its the same gas and electricity coming to your property. The supplier relies on another company to actually get it to your property. For electricity its the local distributor. In London for example I believe its EDF, NOT EDF the supplier, EDF the distributor. This is who would have to look at any compensation if the supply was interrupted.

If it was similar to the example given above something out of thier control, then as its not thier fault or your fault its just one of those things. Why should they pay for an act of god?

If it was something they did they I believe there are certain rules regarding compensation. Hopefully someone can advise on this as I am not familier. I believe for gas it has to be off for a certain amount of time before you are eligible. If you are eligible the payment is given the supplier who passes it on to the customer.

I imagine it may be similar for electricity, hopefully someone else will know all the ins an outs.

vix2000

TBH its not so much about the compensation as the principle. I have no objection claiming on my house insurance and losing my no claims discount for something that is my fault, but the assumption that I should do that for something that is not my fault???? I was told straight away that they have no responsibility for this and I should use my contents insurance. The problem is due to a fault at the substation.

Its a bit like if I skid in the snow, hit your car (my fault) and say its not my responsibility, claim on your car insurance, thats what you've got it for.

I didn't do it on purpose and have no control over the weather but its still ultimately my responsibility as I caused the damage.