National grid (electric) look to suspend night time call outs to domestic power cuts

[Yorkshire Andy]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/26563562 ... urs-calls/

NATIONAL Grid is planning to cut out-of-hours repair calls to homes without power — as it is cheaper to pay the fines.

The firm, which made £5billion in profits last year, has justified the move by saying such work can be noisy and disruptive.

National Grid, responsible for power connections to homes, currently says a worker will attend within three hours if notified between 7am and 7pm on weekdays or 9am and 5pm at weekends.

It is fined £35 per customer if it fails to attend.

And if any home is cut-off for more than 12 hours, a fine of £90 has to be paid to customers.

But sources claim the company has calculated the fines may be cheaper than paying after-hours staff wages.

A source said: “This will mean some customers will stay off-supply for the whole night, just to save money.

“The company always used to put customers first above cost but it’s all about cost-saving now. It’s wrong.”

A spokesman for National Grid said: “We are committed to providing excellent customer service and know that any disruption to our service is unacceptable.

"We have made a public pledge to minimise any disruption caused by unscheduled power supply interruptions – and take this commitment very seriously. Especially for more vulnerable customers on our Priority Services Register.

“Carrying out overnight roadworks to restore power supplies can be noisy and disruptive, so we are considering whether in a small number of circumstances it would be better overall customer service to delay these repair works until first thing the following morning. No decision has been made.

“If we do make this change it will be on a trial basis, and we will continue to honour our commitment to work to restore customers’ power supply within 12 hours under the Guaranteed Standards of Performance scheme.”

[jansman]

What a surprise that a company can be so financially and cynical planned!

[Yorkshire Andy]

What a surprise that a company can be so financially and cynical planned!

Be interesting what happens and they ignore you then theres a subsequent big arc flash that kills or BBQs some poor soul walking down the street

[jennyjj01]

What a surprise that a company can be so financially and cynical planned!

Be interesting what happens and they ignore you then theres a subsequent big arc flash that kills or BBQs some poor soul walking down the street

Won't they have insurance for such contingencies?

As a NG shareholder, they have my support. Cynics'R'Us.

But seriously, isn't this just the market economy at work? If the penalty for parking all day on a £10 pay and display car park was £1, who would pay the £10 fee?

The setting of the 'fine' at £35 is the critical flaw.

Maybe the same idea occurred to my local council which doesn't bother filling in potholes, because there's no cost to neglect..

[korolev]

The simple(!) solution is open-ended fines so that they are charged per hour that a customer is off over the primary period.

[jennyjj01]

The simple(!) solution is open-ended fines so that they are charged per hour that a customer is off over the primary period.

I agree. Either toothless regulation, or regulator is in cahoots with NG.
But the free market, they'll do what best costs in.

[GeeGee]

We are on a power cut now 9 houses in the area of course ours had to be one of them
We are on the priority register but I doubt very much itll make much difference mr Ggs chemo is ok at moment he has it twice a day at home now for rest of his life
I've logged mine got the email back that engineers on way we will see . .
Jackory is out the camping stove is out for cuppas and I'd literally just made tea so that was a bonus rechargeable lanterns out as its dark ish and raining here
Phone chargers all charged up due to the solar panels we have ... well cope ...

[Yorkshire Andy]

We are on a power cut now 9 houses in the area of course ours had to be one of them
We are on the priority register but I doubt very much itll make much difference mr Ggs chemo is ok at moment he has it twice a day at home now for rest of his life
I've logged mine got the email back that engineers on way we will see . .
Jackory is out the camping stove is out for cuppas and I'd literally just made tea so that was a bonus rechargeable lanterns out as its dark ish and raining here
Phone chargers all charged up due to the solar panels we have ... well cope ...

You'll probably get a knock at the door and a survival kit each like the mother in law got

[GeeGee]

What the dead batteries in the torches and a couple bottles of water .... I remember reading that..think you had more supplies than the whole of the powergrid

[Yorkshire Andy]

What the dead batteries in the torches and a couple bottles of water .... I remember reading that..think you had more supplies than the whole of the powergrid

That's the one and dont forget the flat power bank

Won't mention that the mil gifted some of the pack contents as Christmas gifts