APPENDIX 15
Memorandum submitted by Scottish and Southern
Energy plc
SCOTTISH HYDRO-ELECTRIC—BOXING DAY
STORMS
As you are aware, Scottish Hydro-Electric is
part of the Scottish and Southern Energy Group and I have attached
a short report providing the information requested in your letter.
Southern Electric has also written to provide you with the required
information.
Scottish Hydro-Electric carried out a review
of its customer communications arrangements after the severe weather
experienced during Christmas of 1995. Following a thorough investigation
to determine where improvements could be made, action was initiated
to ensure that the quality and resilience of our communications
system was improved. We believe that this action, coupled with
our investment in the network and our well rehearsed emergency
procedures, means we are now in a stronger position to restore
supplies effectively and maintain communications with customers
in the event of a major supply interruption.
The attached information is taken from the report
which was submitted to OFFER to assist with their own investigation
of the storms experienced over the festive period.
SCOTTISH HYDRO-ELECTRIC—SUPPLY
INTERRUPTIONS 26 AND
27 DECEMBER 1998
| TABLE 1
|
| Numbers of Customers Off Supply (estimated at the time during the storms)
|
| | |
| | |
| Date | Due to storms | Total number
|
| | |
| | |
| Saturday 26 December | 51,344
| 51,344 |
| Sunday 27 December | 13,562
| 14,491 |
| Monday 28 December | 2,944 |
2,968 |
| Tuesday 29 December | 0 |
3,500 |
| Wednesday 30 December | 0 |
3,126 |
| Thursday 31 December | 0 |
6,396 |
| | |
| | |
| Total | 67,850 | 81,726
|
NB: Total number of customers affected by storms over the
period of 67,850 represents approximately 11 per cent of our total
customer base of 640,000. These figures represent the number of
customers affected by Distribution voltage faults.
We also experienced seven faults at Transmission voltages
which affected 72,165 customers on 26 December (five faults) and
2,904 customers (two faults) on 27 December. Fortunately, these
faults were able to be restored by remote switching.
| TABLE 2
|
| Speed of Restoration
|
|
| |
| Time off | Number of customers
|
|
| |
| 0 to 3 hours | 34,201 |
| 3 to 6 hours | 8,545 |
| 6 to 12 hours | 12,393 |
| 12 to 18 hours | 7,410 |
| 18 to 24 hours | 1,151 |
| 24 to 36 hours | 1,396 |
| 36 to 48 hours | 698 |
| 48 to 60 hours | 23 |
| 60 to 72 hours | 17 |
| Over 72 hours | 1 |
These figures represent the total number of customer interruptions
experienced during the storms at Christmas time.
| TABLE 3
|
| Compensation payments—this table is taken directly from the information supplied to OFFER to assist them with their investigation into the storms. It is therefore in the same format as the table provided to OFFER
|
| | |
|
Automatic payments
| Payments following internal investigation
|
| | |
| (a) | Number of customers receiving automatic payments: 82
| Number of customers writing to request compensation: 769
|
| | |
| (b) | Total number of automatic payments made: 82
| Total number of "goodwill" payments made: 439
|
| | |
| (c) | Total amount paid: £4,100
| Total amount paid: £38,450 |
| | |
| (d) | | Number of "goodwill" payments refused: 330
|
| | |
| (e) | | Total number of "goodwill" claims outstanding as at 5 March 1999: 12
|
Scottish Hydro-Electric has treated each case on an individual
basis in order to determine whether or not a payment was due under
the terms of the Performance Standard (GS2). Customers were required
to make a claim in the usual manner by writing to us and we looked
at the action which was taken in restoring their supplies to assess
if there was anything we could have done to get them back on supply
sooner. Goodwill payments have been made (see table) to customers
who were badly affected and these payments were usually £50.
17 March 1999
|
