POWER supplier EDF Energy today promised it is doing all it can to avoid a repeat of last October's black-out.A £300million programme of investment is set for the network this year and a thorough review of performance has been carried out.
POWER supplier EDF Energy today promised it is doing all it can to avoid a repeat of last October's black-out.
A £300million programme of investment is set for the network this year and a thorough review of performance has been carried out.
It follows a period last year in which several people were without power for several days, and in some cases weeks.
A spokesman for the company, formerly known as 24seven, said: "EDF Energy has put considerable measures in place to improve performance in emergency situations following the storm last October.
"We conducted a full review of our performance and initiated a 57-point action plan to improve our performance. This plan is on target for completion by December 2003, with 45 of the 57 actions already implemented."
Summer seemingly ended with a bang on Monday, as heavy rain and gusty winds cut power supplies to 20,000 customers in the region, 400 in Suffolk.
Power was restored to 90 per cent of affected customers within three hours, with the remainder dealt with by lunchtime the following day.
The spokeswoman added: "Our ability to deal with emergency situations was tested on January 30 and 31 when parts of East of England were subjected to a severe snow and wind storm.
"Despite access difficulties, we restored service to 89% of some 102,000 customers affected within three hours and made final restorations to service within 32 hours. We hope that this demonstrates the improvements already in place."
The £300 million of network improvements set to be invested includes projects to reinforce and improve the network to meet future demand for service.
Money spent on tree-trimming will increase by 60pc this year and will again be boosted in 2004 and 2005 as part of a five-year plan to cut trees away from all our overhead lines.
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