20 January 2007 00:00 UPDATE – Central Networks puts 1,000 engineers in the field to fix faults – 1130hrs

Central Networks has 1,000 engineers working across central England to bring customers back on power after Thursday’s severe gale force winds.

Engineers have been working round the clock to deal with the thousands of faults caused by the gales, with around 8,000 customers still off power in the Central Networks region, which stretches from the Lincolnshire coast to the Welsh Borders and from the Peak District to the outskirts of Bristol.

Among those 1,000 are engineers from Western Power Distribution (which covers the South West and South Wales) called in specially to help.

Jim Lightfoot, Director of Customer and Network Operations, said: “To give people an idea of how devastating the severe gale force winds we faced were, we had 411,000 customers affected at one time or another and have had one month’s worth of incidents in one day.

“In addition, our call handlers answered two week’s worth of calls in two days.

“Some areas are getting back to normal now, and the numbers of people still off power are coming down all the time, but I’m afraid that we still have lots and lots of small faults that will just take time to fix.”

Customers are advised to stay away from any fallen power cables that they might come across and to let Central Networks know locations. Central Networks can be contacted on 0800 056 8090 (East Midlands) or 0800 328 1111 (West Midlands).

Ends

Notes to editors
Power industry regulator Ofgem’s severe weather compensation rules for customers are now in operation. Customers who have been off power for 48 continuous hours will receive £25, with a further £25 for every continuous 12 hours thereafter, to a maximum of £200.
Central Networks will contact all customers who qualify for compensation directly.

The media can call the below numbers for more information:
Jonathan Smith on 024 7618 3676
Emily Highmore on 024 7618 3680
ISDN available at 024 7642 5147
Out of hours, the media should ring 024 7642 4000 and ask to speak to the duty press officer