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Electricity firm says sorry for 41-hour power cut in Flackwell Heath
5:19pm Wednesday 30th December 2009
AN ELECTRICITY firm has apologised to several Flackwell Heath residents after a 42-hour power cut left them in “absolute misery”.
A blown fuse at a nearby sub-station left seven homes in the village without electricity between 7.30pm on Tuesday until 12.30pm on Christmas eve last week.
It knocked out pensioner David Wiltshire's boiler, leaving him “bloody cold” and dismayed by the lack of communication from Southern Electric.
The Woodlane Gardens resident said: “It was absolute misery. Without helpful neighbours, who were luckily not affected, it would have been even worse.
He said he was left in the dark not only at home, but also as to what the company were doing to resolve the problem.
Mr Wiltshire added: “In our case it went from one deadline to another until finally three large vans, one towing a digger preceded by a Land Rover with a pile of ladders arrived and the problem was cleared up in about ten minutes.
“The wish to say 'where have you been and what have you been doing?' was strong but when I heard how they had been rushing from one job to the next in terrible conditions it was obvious that they had been working very hard.
“Improving communication should be a number one priority and yet it seems to be overlooked."
Duncan MacDonald, a Southern Electric spokesman, said around 50 homes lost power on the Tuesday, but when engineers replaced the fuse they failed to check that electricity was restored to all the houses.
He said: “There was a lot of bad weather in the area at that time and our depot was extremely busy. Unfortunately we assumed everyone was back on when they weren't.
“We are extremely sorry for the problems this caused for those people and they will be receiving compensation. A senior manager has already been round to speak to the people face to face.”
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Your Say YourLondon
masterdebater.co.uk, says...
10:03pm Wed 30 Dec 09
It is unfortunate but not absolute misery.
What ideas did people come up with to pass the time?
lostinmarlow, Bucks says...
10:28am Thu 31 Dec 09
How extremely rare to find a company actually taking ownership of a problem and seeking to remedy it.
Ok Communication wasn't that great, but actually getting a manager out to see the affected people wins a few brownie points.
The engineers would not have had it easy with the snow and bad conditions. A lot of long hours would have been put in over that time. Loos of power is an inconvenience, but consideringthe weather these people were working hard to make sure power was back for Christmas so no one would go cold. Sometimes things are overlooked, but they didn't go home because it was 5 o'clock and they would fix it tomorrow.
A small vote thanks to the hard work to them would be in order
Electricity firm says sorry for 41-hour power cut
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wayneo, bucks says...
7:59pm Wed 30 Dec 09
There, not so difficult is it? If only the Council could do this more, people might be more forgiving.