Comments: Still no usable power...

67 hours now without usable power... still 30,000 people with no electricity supply in this county (according to the local news). No information, no contact from the infrastructure company, and no support being offered from anywhere.

Me 2 hours ago: "So why did one of your colleagues tell my husband this morning that the power would be restored by 3.15pm?"

CSA: "Some advisors will say anything to get people off the line."

I've read elsewhere that the problem now isn't lack of engineers, it's lack of parts. Which are now made in China.

This isn't go to end any time soon.

Posted by Blue Witch on 29 November, 2021 at 6:56 PM

Sorry to hear this Witchy, this must be a real pain. We've had more power cuts since we moved down here since the whole of the rest of my life other than that period in the 70's. More than one a month at the moment but luckily they're never very long (and I don't include the blips which just knock any PC not protected by a UPS out). Our longest was 18 hours I think.
Our electrician with contacts in the Network says it's a mixture of parts and engineers but the main thing is it is absolutely going to get worse because there's been no investment in the infrastructure for years and it's getting more and more patches upon top of patches.
Hope you're back on soon.

Posted by NiC on 29 November, 2021 at 7:43 PM

We have received a couple of emails from Northern Powergrid but we haven't lost power. Any update yet and have you got power back?

Posted by delcatto on 30 November, 2021 at 9:52 AM

Dave had a text alert from Northern Power Grid yesterday saying they are working hard on getting our power back on. It isn't off here. Local News tonight from villages around the county(south, east and north) all saying same thing and similar to your stories of what they are being told and the broken promises. Also saying some won't have power until Friday. You might get up to £700 compensation though!

Posted by Darren Rigby on 30 November, 2021 at 6:47 PM

Oh dear, I'd been hearing the news and hoping that you might have had some progress by now. How on earth are you keeping warm - do you have a wood burner or anything?

Posted by Caroline Greenwell on 30 November, 2021 at 7:35 PM

Stupid me, you've said you've got a wood burner but that it's not making much dent in the cold. Takes me back to my childhood when we huddled round the coal fire.

Posted by Caroline Greenwell on 30 November, 2021 at 7:38 PM

Hope you get some progress soon; we are lucky here in Devon not to have had outages, though there were a lot of trees down locally and some damage to power lines too. Our place runs on wood - ancient Rayburn and a back-up woodburner for when it’s really cold - but we are also fortunate in that cob houses are pretty warm, and particularly the mid-terrace variety. Sending mental warm socks and hot toddies!

Posted by Tamsin on 30 November, 2021 at 9:03 PM

Have heard the odd bit about birds needing to be kept 'indoors', ie: in areas inaccessible by wild birds. Even the Really Hungry Tiny Ones. Otherwise nowt. Congratulations on getting the Hen Pen renetted.

Apparently part of the rest of the reconnection problem is that not only did loads of trees bring power lines & power poles and even pylons down, but they're blocking roads making it Really Hard for the Repair Teams to access said poles and pylons.

I don't know about where you are, but it
was a good 10°C warmer here (south coast) today than it had been the past two days. Things which had frozen Saturday night, stayed frozen all Sunday and Monday, but were thawed today.

You've earned that reputed £700 compensation already, I reckon

Posted by Sharon on 1 December, 2021 at 1:08 AM

stormarwen@northernpowergrid.com for compensation, apparently.
How's it going?

Posted by Darren Rigby on 1 December, 2021 at 6:39 PM

Thanks all. I doubt we'll get any compensation any time soon, and it certainly won't even cover our costs, let alone the wasted time just 'surviving' - there simply isn't any time to do anything else, and it's only reliably light from 8 until 3.15pm right now. Close to zero again tonight too.

Posted by Blue Witch on 1 December, 2021 at 8:11 PM

When are you putting in your order for your new clean green electric car.

Posted by Caroline Greenwell on 1 December, 2021 at 8:38 PM