Power NI ‘neglect’ of Moyle says Cllr McIlroy

Cllr Robert McIlroy raised the issue at Monday night’s meeting of Moyle Council saying the power cut lasted for almost two days.

He spoke about how frequently the power cuts seem to be happening and gave an example of another outage in Bushmills just last week.

Cllr McIlroy said: “This results in problems for people in businesses regarding their security alarms, also elederly people are finding that the heating timer clocks are not working because of the power cuts.

“I know that power cuts happen sometimes and we just have to accept that but since the Christmas power cuts, I have been receiving calls saying that they are happening frequently.

“This Council should write to Power NI because there is neglect of the system here in Moyle.”

Cllr Joan Baird agreed saying that had been an “inordinate delay” in reconnecting customers to their supply over the Christmas period.

“It was riduculous. This began on Boxing Day,” she said.

“Many people had no means of heating their homes. Many people rely on oil or gas and the flue is not open for them to have an open fire.

“Many elderly people were left in the lurch and had no help.

“The electricity was off for 36 hours in some places.”

Cllr Baird said that Power NI should improve their communication strategy during power failures.

“Northern Ireland Water keeps a list of elderly and vulnerabler people ine ach area and when there are problems they phone around those customers.

“I wonder is Power NI keeping the same kinds of records?

“They should be treating their customers with due respect.”

Cllr Joan Baird asked if recompense was being made to customers affected and was it adequatr?

It was agreed to write to Power NI about the issues.