Scottish Affairs Committee - A Robust Grid for 21st Century ScotlandWritten evidence submitted by Alastair Redman, Sub-Postmaster, Isle of Islay

Electricity supply—Rhinns area, Isle of Islay, Argyll and Bute.

Distribution company: Southern and Scottish Energy plc.

Power Supply

Over the last 18 months, after many years of good electricity supply, the area was subject to many power cuts and power surges. These ranged from many small multiple cuts in a day to very lengthy ones lasting over 24 hours. Such events puts stress on electrical equipment and either damages them or shortens their life. We have also had to invest in expensive surge protectors for each piece of equipment. A significant number of these cuts were not weather related. See Record of power cuts (No 2.)

Scottish and Southern Energy operatives tell us that the infrastructure on this part of Islay is old, outdated and very corroded. This has caused the unacceptable number of faults on the line as it has started to fail.

It is not fit for purpose.

This was acknowledged last year by Southern and Scottish Energy. The Performance Manager, Argyll and West Highlands SSE, Mr S Fletcher informed Mr J Shields of Portnahaven in a letter dated 16.06.2011 “Scottish and Southern Energy plc monitors the operation of all its electrical supply networks and carries out regular inspections. Any circuit highlighted as having a high incidence of interruption is given priority for maintenance or upgrade work. I am pleased to confirm that the 11KV network supplying yourself and your neighbours is to be refurbished this summer”.

This did not happen.

Extreme Weather

An unusually violent storm hit Islay on 3 January 2012. Bowmore (the main village) 25 miles away, had a power cut lasting one hour. Much of Portnahaven and Port Wemyss on the Rhinns area of Islay had a power cut lasting 81 consecutive hours. We have many elderly and disabled people and young families in this area. Four days without power caused great distress eg one lady could not use her stair left, a young disabled man could not use his hoist, one young family had no heating or means of cooking, one 96 year old lady just out of hospital had no heating or water...it goes on. We were without water for two of the four days as we rely on electrical pumps. Similar winds on Shetland and the outer Hebrides caused no cuts as their infrastructure is up to the job.

Compensation

While we accept that such a weather event can cause disruption we do not accept that the storm caused FOUR days of power loss. The infrastructure is so fragile that the number of faults bore no relationship to their cause.

Many of us had food spoiled in fridges and freezers and feel that it is the responsibility of Scottish and Southern Energy to reimburse us for this. SSE insist that any loss should be claimed through our insurance companies but this loss is caused neither by the weather nor accident but by their neglect of the infrastructure in our area. The unacceptable length of the power cut would have been avoided if the system had been replaced in 2011 as promised. SSE has been at best confusing and at worst contradictory in its communication of what our entitlements are which has added to the stress of many.

Fairness

We pay the same rates as everyone else who enjoy a satisfactory service.

The Islay whisky industry produces £120 million per annum for the UK exchequer.

Constant outages coupled with a confusing and slow system of compensation are critical to the survival of many of the small businesses on Islay. All we are asking is that we enjoy the same level of power distribution as any other community in the 21st century.

What are we asking?

We urgently need:

A power distribution system fit for purpose.

Realistic compensation for the inconvenience and losses caused by the neglect of Southern and Scottish Energy plc.

SSE to recognise their responsibilities as detailed in the “Guaranteed Standards of Performance for Electricity Distribution Companies in England Wales and Scotland” and to make information re entitlements clear and accessible to all its customers and for claims to be facilitated rather than resisted.

Letter to CEO of Scottish and Southern Energy plc, 10 January 2012

This letter concerns the electricity supply to the Rhinns area on the Isle of Islay.

It is not fit for purpose. We are extremely concerned about both its total lack of reliability in calm conditions and the power surges which damage our electrical equipment.

In the past the supply was satisfactory. This area is prone to many gales and outages during extreme weather conditions were accepted as inevitable and usually supply was re-established quickly.

However over the last 18 months the supply has become increasingly erratic and unreliable (see attached record). In calm conditions often during summer months we have had multiple cuts...as many as 21 in one night, lasting from 10 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 4 hours and so on up to 24 hours. These multiple small cuts are apparently not recorded in your records. We have also been subjected to power “surges” when lights have suddenly flared and radios blasted out sound. Both these events have at best shortened the life of equipment and at worst damaged them to failure. We have all had to invest in expensive surge protectors to try to ameliorate this damage.

There appears to be a strategy of reacting to problems rather than a process of maintenance. Your equipment is old, outdated and constantly failing. You are aware that it is subject to “unusual” corrosion due to salt and wind (see attached photograph) but have not planned accordingly. It was interesting to note that Shetland, also subject to harsh conditions and hurricane force winds this Christmas, did not have any power cuts. The evidence strongly suggests that we have been marginalised in a totally unacceptable way.

We are also extremely concerned about the communication during long outages. Bearing in mind that very few phones work in a cut we get different messages from different operatives, we have to piece the information together from various sources. Sometimes the information flatly contradicts our experience eg on the evening of 5 January (after three days and nights without power) we were told that we were on line and that the workmen had left the area. BUT we had no power. Because workmen do not work after dark (even on this a calm night) we therefore had to wait another 20 hours before power was restored. We have many elderly, disabled and vulnerable people and small children living in this area...a four day power cut is extremely difficult to handle for them eg one lady had no access to her stair-lift, a disabled young man had no hoist , families and elderly without any form of heat. An extra totally unnecessary 20 hours is shameful. We found out accidentally that your company would subsidise hot meals from a hotel for those without power, this information trickled out too late for most people...this at the same time that Bute was being sent generators and a catering service.

Water pumps failed and we were also without water for two days. Gravity will provide water to most of us for the first 24 hours so an unnecessarily prolonged cut automatically gives us the potentially dangerous extra problem of having no water.

With modern equipment and a decent maintenance programme an 81 hour outage would not have happened. Bowmore, 25 miles, away was subjected to a one hour cut over the same period. We feel very strongly that we are paying first rate prices and only receiving a third rate service.

Your company has already acknowledged our problems after various complaints and in fact undertook to replace failing equipment. A letter from Stephen Fletcher, Performance Manager of Scottish and Southern Power Distribution dated 16.06.2011 to Mr J Shield states—“I am pleased to confirm that the 11KV network supplying yourself and your neighbours is to be refurbished this summer” (our italics). This never happened. Why? It seems useless going through your normal complaints process.

We are looking for two things:

(I)An upgrade of the infrastructure that supplies electricity to the Rhinns area of the Isle of Islay as a matter of urgency. It needs to be upgraded so that it is fit for purpose for this area.

(II)Clear and accessible guidelines concerning claims and compensation. This information has trickled out, only after three days from the end of a four day power cut and after many phone calls and complaints have we received this information.

We look forward to your response (rather than polite acknowledgement) to this letter within 10 working days of receipt.

RECORD OF POWER CUTS ON THE RHINNS AREA OF THE ISLE OF ISLAY 2010–12

Date	Power off from/till	Weather
2010
September 14th	16.30–17.30 “broken line”	Not windy
October	Line between Jura and Islay breaks—setting off many cuts and power fluctuations	weather irrelevant to what happened with the power supply.
November	In the small hours of one night, Mr Ian Turner counted over 20 small cuts. Power supply stretched by very cold spell which began towards the end of November and lasted until almost the end of December
2011
January 11th	23.00—not sure	Windy—near gale
May 23rd	10.00am—rest of day	Violent storm 11
May 27th	afternoon	not windy
June 6th	20.00–01.00	not windy
June 10th	12.50–01.45	thundery showers
July 1st	22.25–23.55	little wind—no rain
September 12th	12.50–13.42 then again at 16.30 for a few seconds. Each cut was preceded by a powerful surge	Force 10 storm
November 1st	17.25–20.15	dry and bright
November 2nd	22.05–23.15	not windy
November 19th	22.41 for a minute	not windy
November 21st	09.45–10.30	showery
November 24th	09.50–10.30	wet and windy but not a gale
December 5th	21.10–21.12 (flickered for a couple of minutes before)	Windy in frequent squalls
December 8th The power went on and off throughout the day, mainly for less than 2 mins. As an example here is the pattern for the morning:	09.15 for 1.5 mins 09.30 for less than a minute 10.18 for 1 min. 10.55 for 1 min 10.57 for 1 min. 10.59 for 1 min 11.12 for less than a minute 11.37 for 1 min. 12.02 for less than a minute 12.04 for less than a minute Several more until 16.30 when power went off until 17.25. Final cut lasted from 19.30 until 17.45 the next day (9th Dec.)	Violent storm 11
December 13th	Power off from 16.00–19.00	Wet and stormy
Boxing Day	Off for 15 mins.	Strong winds
December 28th	Power off from 19.00 until 08.10 the following morning (the 29th).	Stormy weather
December 31st	13.55 until 17.45	dull, drizzly and calm
2012
January 2nd	19.25 for a minute	Wet and windy
January 3rd	Prior to the power going off for almost 4 days at 05.30, there were again many small cuts—at least a dozen—from approx 03.00. Many lasted barely a minute. Each time the power went off and came back on the clock would flash and the radio squawk.	Very violent storm—winds in excess of 100mph.
January 4th	Power off all day—water off too.	wet and windy
January 5th	Power off all day—water on weakly then off again until the evening. Power came on across the bay in mid-afternoon then was off again several times. No hint of power on King Street and Port Wemyss	Calm night
January 6th	Power came back on at 14.50.	Squally winds—not strong.
January 7th	Flickering on and off many times between 19.00 and 23.30.	Damp but not windy
January 8th	10.20–10.35	not windy

N.B.

During one of many conversations with a “SSE helpline worker”, it emerged that the records they have of our power outages do not match our own. Not only do the timings of some of the major power cuts not coincide, they have no awareness of the myriad of tiny breaks we get during many an event.

20 January 2011