Electricity outage in Balvicar on Wednesday

[NickB]

.
On Wednesday the electricity supply to Balvicar and points South to Luing will be going off for five and a half hours between 10.30am and 4pm. This is apparently being done at the request of Luing community council. Luing has been suffering voltage drops, and the regulators that are meant to compensate for this are faulty. They want this fixed before Christmas. Unfortunately for us the regulators are situated upstream from Balvicar, so we will be off as well.

Temperatures on Wednesday are forecast to remain below freezing all day. Some houses in Balvicar are all electric with elderly residents, but the engineer in charge has confimed that he nonetheless intends to proceed with this work because there is no alternative. If anyone would like to discuss this with Allan Mackechnie but have mislaid their letter his phone number is 07767 852035.

[NickB]

.
Just phoned the Complaints line - a very pleasant sounding man called Dennis is looking into it and will get back to me. If you would like to complain yourself the helpline is 0845 071 3954 and they are open until 8pm. I'll post any further news here.

[smallpaws]

Just phoned the complaints line Nick and was told to ring Mr Mackecknie, which I've also just done and had to leave a message. My mother is 90, disabled, and is in an all-electric house. Mine is all-electric too, so there's not much point bringing her here - apart from the fact that the logistics of actually getting her out of the house don't bear thinking about!

Pat

[NickB]

.
I have just spent over an hour with the Complaints department. The Emergency Response team says this work has to be carried out or there could be power cuts.

I have suggested that at the very least they should have taken the time to enquire as to whether any people such as your Mum could be put at risk by this and perhaps supplied portable heaters or arranged for hot food to be delivered. They are intending to bring this up with Mr. Mackechnie and will be phoning me back tomorrow. I think the Hydro Board have been extremely cavalier with this.

(In case anyone is wondering - this is not the work that was going to be carried out in the previous planned but subsequently cancelled all-day outage on 30th November - that still has to be done, so we are going to have another day without power some time in the future)

[smallpaws]

Thanks Nick. I'll let you know if I hear anything too.

[NickB]

.
Heard from Mr. Mackechnie this morning and he will be coming round to see those who have contacted him and expressed concern. I think part of the problem this time was that having had the last outage cancelled due to weather people thought that would happen this time as well. I have suggested that they modify the standard letter next time to indicate if the work is of an emergency nature and will go ahead whatever the weather, and that they should explicitly invite those with concerns to get in touch earlier. Generators can apparently be supplied to private houses as well as businesses if there is a need.