APPENDIX 11
Memorandum submitted by Yorkshire Electricity
Group plc
Thank you for your letter dated 8 March 1999
addressed to our Chief Executive. Mr Hall has asked me to reply
to your request since I have responsibility for this area of our
business.
The weather experienced in our geographical
region during the period Christmas 1998 to New Year 1999 was not
especially severe in comparison to that experienced in other areas
of the United Kingdom and in particular areas to the north of
our region. Nevertheless we did experience some difficulties although
we were never affected to the degree that we would have wished
to declare Force Majeure.
The gales were at their height on the 26 and
27 December. They then moderated on the 28 December 1998 and subsided
to normal levels for the remainder of the period through to the
31 December.
| Date | Forecast maximum windspeed (MPH)
| Actual maximum windspeed (MPH) |
| | |
| | |
| Saturday 26 December | 30 (gusting to 50)
| 72 |
| Sunday 27 December | 25 (gusting to 35)
| 78 |
| Monday 28 December | 15 (gusting to 25)
| 53 |
| Tuesday 29 December | 27 (gusting to 35)
| 32 |
| Thursday 30 December | 20 (gusting to 35)
| 38 |
| Friday 31 December | 15 (steady)
| 24 |
The gales caused relative minor damage to our distribution
system across the period to which you refer. The worst damage
occurred on the 26 December, with the number of incidents from
the 27 to 31 December being considered to have been at normal
levels.
The total number of customers affected by the storms in our
region was 46,327, that is 2.3 per cent of our total customer
base. Our performance in relation to supply restoration, stated
as both a total and percentage, is provided in the table below.
| 26-31 December 1998
|
| Length of time off supply
|
| 0-3
hours | 3-12
hours
| 12-24
hours | 24-48
hours
| 48-72
hours | More than
72 hours
|
| | |
| | | |
| Total number customers | 42,615
| 3,628 | 84 | 0
| 0 | 0 |
| Percentage restored | 92.0 |
7.8 | 0.2 | 0 |
0 | 0 |
In view of our performance in restoring supplies during this
period no special compensation payments were made to any customers.
A small number of goodwill payments were made in accordance with
our normal claims policy. For completeness five payments were
made having a total value of £163.
18 March 1999
| 
