ESB cannot `compensate customers for weather'

Householders planning to claim compensation from the ESB for their cold turkey on Christmas Day have been warned by a company…

Householders planning to claim compensation from the ESB for their cold turkey on Christmas Day have been warned by a company spokesman that damage caused by the "raw power of nature" does not come within its customer charter.This charter gives 12 guarantees on the provision of electricity services and includes a series of penalties (£20 to £40) which the ESB must pay if it fails to live up to them. But it excludes "storms or extensive disruption to electricity supplies".Mr Michael Kelly, ESB spokesman, said the company fully recognised the "very severe" inconvenience suffered by tens of thousands of householders, but it was "unable to compensate people for the weather, which is something entirely beyond our control".Since Christmas Eve, the ESB had more than 1,000 staff working to restore power supplies, he said. There would be "no reduction in resources until the last person is reconnected", he added. The company was also "bracing itself" for the storm forecast tomorrow or Wednesday.All "outages" show up on an electronic map of the national grid, known as SCADA, which identifies particular transformers and electricity poles. The ESB also has a network of remote sensors to identify faults and even put them right remotely, in some cases.