Release date: 08/02/2010

By: Eyvind Ryans
Telephone 020 8871 6031 or email eryans@wandsworth.gov.uk

EDF challenged on Balham blackouts

 The council is pressing EDF Energy to compensate businesses in Balham after a series of power failures cost the town centre around £1/4 million.

There were twelve power cuts between December 28 and January 16 in Balham and more than 50 businesses were affected.

Many suffered a heavy loss in takings as they were repeatedly forced to close and the outages also damaged equipment and ruined perishable stock.

The Exhibit restaurant, bar and cinema was forced to close down completely for eleven nights.

Balham Railway Station, a major transport interchange, was also cut off and had to shut on three occasions amid safety fears. This caused disruption to thousands of commuters and resulted in knock on delays across the entire Southern Railway network.

Local residents were also hit, with some enduring a lack of power for more than 20 hours in freezing temperatures.

The council has also received complaints that EDF was slow to respond and ineffective. The emergency telephone number they provided only offered a recorded message about a sub station fault in another area and no indication about when power would be restored.

It was several days before an emergency generator was installed for the town centre and when it did arrive it repeatedly cut out.

Some businesses and the railway station were forced to hire private generators at huge expense.

So far EDF has offered some businesses a ‘goodwill payment’ which fails to cover even a small proportion of their losses.

Council leader Edward Lister has now written to the energy provider to request a proper explanation and full compensation:

Cllr Lister said: “EDF repeatedly plunged the town centre into darkness during the busiest shopping period of the year and so far their response has been completely unacceptable.

“They failed to handle the crisis properly, and now they’re drastically understating its financial impact.

“We want real compensation for local businesses and guarantees that this will not happen again”.


Ends

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