08 December 2002 00:00 East Midlands Electricity asks for customers’ help in Leicester

With problems continuing in the Belgrave area of Leicester, East Midlands Electricity has asked for local people to do their bit.

During the past few days, the company has brought in generators to help with the situation and has stationed engineers on the spot. In addition it has despatched its customer support vehicle – the only one of its kind in the country – to offer advice and support such as blankets and candles, and currently has a customer service expert at the local neighbourhood centre. Despite this, there are still problems with supply in the area.

Bob Taylor, Managing Director of EME, said: “Under normal circumstances the people of Belgrave use a mix of gas and electricity. “With gas supplies knocked out for so many people, everyone’s using electricity and the system simply wasn’t designed for so many people using so much power at certain times of the day. “What we need people to do is to think about their electricity usage and understand that, for example, at the moment they simply can’t put more than one blower heater on their house circuit.