There were at least four power cuts in Dublin yesterday, caused by problems with underground electricity cables. Three of the cuts were caused by building contractors who damaged cables when digging, the Electricity Supply Board said. Some 1,000 power cuts over the last 12 months have been caused by contractors, according to the board.
The first of yesterday's cuts came at 2.45 a.m., when the supply to parts of the centre of Dublin, and Donnybrook and Ringsend on the southside, was interrupted for 15 minutes. Supply to adjacent areas was interrupted for 10 seconds at around the same time. The cuts were caused by a fault in a 110 kv underground cable in Ringsend.
The ESB's Distribution Control Centre in Leopardstown found an alternative high-voltage feeder which allowed power to be restored by 3 a.m., according to a spokesman for the company. He described the incident as "significant" but said the board had not received a single call from customers to complain.
However, the cut appears to have led indirectly to problems with The Irish Times telephone system yesterday morning.
There were a further three power cuts in Dublin in the late morning and early afternoon. Construction work in Ballymun led to 1,000 customers losing their power from 11.50 a.m. for about 40 minutes. Less than half an hour later, construction work in Clondalkin caused a break which deprived 1,600 ESB customers of their electricity for just over an hour, with one estate being affected for several hours.
The final power cut of the afternoon occurred shortly before 3 p.m. in Palmerstown in west Dublin. Most customers affected had their power restored within 45 minutes, but King's Hospital school was affected for several hours.
That cut was also thought to have been caused by construction work.
Yesterday's power cuts were preceded by another significant incident on Monday evening. About 1,000 houses in the Donnycarney and Killester areas of Dublin were without power for up to two hours after an underground power line developed a fault shortly before 6 p.m. The cause was not known yesterday.
A spokesman for the ESB said the board was becoming increasingly concerned by the "major damage" which was being caused to underground power cables by building contractors. He said 1,000 power cuts had been caused by construction work in 1999, half of which had occurred in the Dublin area.
A spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation said it was "generally good practice" for contractors to contact utilities in advance of digs. He called on building contractors to be "very careful with utilities".
