Power cut - whose fault?

lucystardust

When you lose electricity supply to your flat, is this the fault of the electricity company (in this case N Power) or another company (eg does a different company own the cables?)

I ask because N Power have just sent me an email inviting me to a customer satisfaction survey - very timely as for the past two evenings we've been without power! The first evening it came back on about 10pm at night, only to go off again between 1pm-11pm the next day. On this second occasion my elderly disabled neighbour fell over in the dark, I heard him shout for help and managed to get in to the flat. After helping him up, I stayed with him for the rest of the evening as he was scared and alone in the dark (he's diabetic and was worried his about the insulin in the fridge) at no point didn't anyone come round to tell us what was going on or when the power might return.

Needless to say I'm pretty annoyed this happened, but I'm wondering whether a rant to N Power is directed in the right place. The fault was fixed after four vans turned up and dug a massive hole outside our block of flats, so sounds like it was a problem with the cable outside.

Wywth

lucystardust wrote: »

When you lose electricity supply to your flat, is this the fault of the electricity company (in this case N Power) or another company (eg does a different company own the cables?)

I ask because N Power have just sent me an email inviting me to a customer satisfaction survey - very timely as for the past two evenings we've been without power! The first evening it came back on about 10pm at night, only to go off again between 1pm-11pm the next day. On this second occasion my elderly disabled neighbour fell over in the dark, I heard him shout for help and managed to get in to the flat. After helping him up, I stayed with him for the rest of the evening as he was scared and alone in the dark (he's diabetic and was worried his about the insulin in the fridge) at no point didn't anyone come round to tell us what was going on or when the power might return.

Needless to say I'm pretty annoyed this happened, but I'm wondering whether a rant to N Power is directed in the right place. The fault was fixed after four vans turned up and dug a massive hole outside our block of flats, so sounds like it was a problem with the cable outside.

Were they nPower vans?

Whichever company it was, I don't think they did it deliberately.

Inspectorman

Nothing to do with NPower, your local DNO is responsible for the cable. Not much to complain about either as they are rectifying the problem and there is a free phone number you can contact to report power cuts & get updates/info.

keith1950

Hi it depends which area you live in, if you live in the north east, for example, in what is Npower's area , then it will be Northern Powergrid that is resposible for the distribution.

Theres no point in complaining unless the supply was off for more than 24 hours or even then what do you hope to gain ?

I used to work for Northern Electric and if the fault was outside it would be worth your while checking every appliance/charger etc. in the house just in case there was on over-voltage and there has been any damage.

macman

As above, it's the responsibility of the DNO-the company that supplies your property (not the company that bills you).

JC_Derby

lucystardust wrote: »

When you lose electricity supply to your flat, is this the fault of the electricity company (in this case N Power) or another company (eg does a different company own the cables?)

as stated previously the DNO manages the cable network

lucystardust wrote: »

at no point didn't anyone come round to tell us what was going on or when the power might return.

Possibly because they didnt know how long it was going to take, or that it was more important to be working on it than talking about it?

also did you at any stage call in the fact that you had gone off supply?

davidlizard

Many years ago, it seemed rare for the power to go off.

These days, we seem to get a power cut of at least half an hour at least once a month in the winter, if not more frequent.

I am guessing that in order to maximise their profits, they spend less time and money taking preventative actions (e.g. walking the line looking for potential overhanging trees etc) and simply wait for it to fail.

To indicate how we get more power outages these days: When I was young, we had a box of candles in the kitchen draw that were lit whenever there was a power cut - these same 4 candles (no Ronnie Barker Jokes please!!) seemed to be in that box all through my childhood. These days, a box of candles rarely lasts through the winter.

And if the wind gets up to anything approaching a gale, we get blips in the leccy supply meaning the digital clocks all reset themselves and the computer goes off.

spiro

You need to check with your neighbour that he has registered with his supplier to be on the priority service register. That gets him special treatment for some events.

JC_Derby

davidlizard wrote: »

Many years ago, it seemed rare for the power to go off.

These days, we seem to get a power cut of at least half an hour at least once a month in the winter, if not more frequent.

I am guessing that in order to maximise their profits, they spend less time and money taking preventative actions (e.g. walking the line looking for potential overhanging trees etc) and simply wait for it to fail.

To indicate how we get more power outages these days: When I was young, we had a box of candles in the kitchen draw that were lit whenever there was a power cut - these same 4 candles (no Ronnie Barker Jokes please!!) seemed to be in that box all through my childhood. These days, a box of candles rarely lasts through the winter.

And if the wind gets up to anything approaching a gale, we get blips in the leccy supply meaning the digital clocks all reset themselves and the computer goes off.

unfortunately you couldnt be more wrong... the more customers and more minutes that people are off, the less the distribution network can make or the more they can lose. bare in mind they dont actually make money from customers directly as such like the suppliers do.

lucystardust

Yes we did call up N Power to report the fault and they were completely useless to be honest, they basically suggested it was probably a meter problem in my flat (so we called out an electrician) when it was an issue with the supply to the block. Obviously I don't blame the power company or the cable company for a one off power cut, but they fixed it on the first evening only for it to happen again on the second evening! Apparently the neighbour is on that register but nothing happened on this occasion, maybe its only for power cuts lasting longer or something.

JC_Derby

lucystardust wrote: »

Yes we did call up N Power to report the fault and they were completely useless to be honest, they basically suggested it was probably a meter problem in my flat (so we called out an electrician) when it was an issue with the supply to the block. Obviously I don't blame the power company or the cable company for a one off power cut, but they fixed it on the first evening only for it to happen again on the second evening! Apparently the neighbour is on that register but nothing happened on this occasion, maybe its only for power cuts lasting longer or something.

It sounds like Npower are your suppliers.
It sounds like the DNo may have replaced a fuse the first time and with the fuse staying in, then they would have left site rather than digging the road up and disturbing people. As for the elderley chap, as it was a fault which they attended asap, the people on the ground possibly wouldnt have been aware.