Energy companies blame 'severe, national storms' over delays in switching power to homes back on
The energy committee chairman, Tim Yeo, has accused power distribution companies of displaying "utter complacency" and a lack of real concern for customers over delays in restoring electricity to storm-hit homes over Christmas.
Bosses of the UK's energy network companies defended the length of time it took to restore power to homes in the face of the "severe, national" storms over the Christmas period, when they appeared before MPs on Tuesday morning.
Basil Scarsella, chief executive of UK Power Networks, told MPs that the combination of the storms' severity and their national reach meant that "tried-and-tested" plans struggled to cope.
He said: "We have a tried-and-tested system that comes into play when there's an emergency such as that. You're correct, we knew that there were storms. We have a methodology that estimates the damage expected on the network based on the wind speeds.
"But the wind speed and the weather forecast escalated significantly on the Sunday and went from 40-50mph winds on the Friday to 50-60mph for our area, and escalated to 70-80mph on the Sunday.
"But notwithstanding that, we managed on the Monday when it hit to have all our workforce pretty much on deck and our estimation of the damage was pretty accurate.
"What we did not estimate accurately was the duration of strong winds which resulted in significantly more severe damage.
"The other issue was that this was a national storm and it lasted over two or three days. There is a well-tested mutual aid system which enables any of us to call on our colleagues to send additional resources.
"But because of the severity of the storm and the national nature of the storm we were not able to provide additional resources to other networks or indeed receive additional resources.
"So there's a combination of the severity of the storm and the national nature of the storm."
More than 150,000 homes were cut off after strong winds, torrential rain and flooding caused damage to power networks, with many were left without electricity for up to five days.
Yeo lambasted the power bosses for failing to show "any expression of real concern for your customers".
"I have to say after 45 minutes the tone of this discussion and its contents has been utter complacency from all of you.
"The trade body can't provide the most basic information on a totally predictable question.
"You have lacked any expression of real concern for your customers. It's absolutely typical of a monopoly, particularly monopolies whose charges are not very visible to the customers who have to pay them."
Yeo warned the witnesses to "step your act up" if they wanted to "impress" the committee.
Read more here >> The Guardian | Quail eggs
