EMPEY WELCOMES NIE’S POWER DISRUPTION MEASURES

THE Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment, has announced the result of his review of NIE’s response to the widespread power disruptions caused by the severe snow storms in late February.

Sir Reg Empey said: "Overall NIE staff are to be congratulated for their efforts in restoring supplies in very hazardous weather conditions. Not everything went entirely to plan or as customers might have wished.

NIE, have welcomed the review’s conclusions, and has drawn up a detailed Action Plan with the aim of further improving its response arrangements for dealing with weather related disruptions. The Regulator intends to monitor the implementation of the Action Plan.

As part of the review the Minister visited the NIE Incident Centre in Craigavon on March 28 where he met the Duty Incident Team, call handlers and repair engineers involved in the restoration of supplies to customers. Sir Reg also met with NIE senior management, the electricity Regulator and the Chairman of the Northern Ireland Consumer Committee for Electricity (NICCE) on June 26 to examine in detail the conclusions and recommendations contained both in NIE’s own report and that of the Regulator.

The June 26 meeting covered a number of aspects, including customer communications and public relations; network performance and damage; special arrangements for critical care customers; goodwill payments; NIE resources for dealing with future emergency situations and external support available to assist NIE in such situations.

The conclusion of the discussions was that the additional measures put in place by NIE following the last major power disruptions in December 1998 had resulted in a marked improvement in the company’s performance in restoring supplies.

However there were a number of areas – particularly in the provision of accurate and timely information to customers – where the company has identified the need for further improvements.

Sir Reg added: "I welcome the further measures planned by NIE. I have asked the Regulator to keep me informed of progress."

(SP)