Hefty damage bills for homes after Newcastle power surge

Hefty damage bills for homes after Newcastle power surge

A POWER surge in Newcastle has caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to local homes.

The fault on the network affected several houses along the Castlewellan and Tollymore Roads on Thursday evening.

Heating has still to be restored to all of the properties and NIE is yet to make a full assessment of all the damage caused.

One of the affected residents, Robert Latus, said that as well as his oil-fired central heating system being out of action, a host of domestic appliances had been affected.

“Our computer, our printer, our dishwasher, the hub for our computer, a couple of alarm clocks, the timing clock for our heating, which is £90 in itself, my daughter’s TV....have all been affected,” he said.

“There wouldn’t be much change from £5,000.”

Mr. Latus said NIE had admitted liability but that the wait for their loss adjusters to visit and calculate the damage was unnecessarily slow.

With smoke also seen from some of the electrical appliances following the power surge, he added that it could have been a danger, particularly to households with more vulnerable residents.

“It is a fire hazard,” he said. “I wouldn’t like to think of us not being in the house. Really I want to get all of our wiring checked.”

Another affected resident, Gwenda Kenneally, said she had been visited by an NIE assessor.

She experienced problems with her oil fired central heating, the loss of Sky TV, and damage to equipment such as her computer, radio and dvd player.

“I have a pile of electrical equipment sitting which they were meant to take away on Saturday,” she said. “Whatever can be repaired is meant to be taken away.”

And with Sky only offering her a reconditioned box instead of a new box, Ms. Kenneally pointed out that she could be out of pocket by having to buy new equipment or enter into a new contract.

“There were quite a few houses affected, but it could have been a lot worse,” she added. “It has never happened to me before. It is very strange.”

Valerie Curran, NIE Customer Relations Manager, said a fault on the overhead electricity network on Thursday evening had affected some properties in the Castlewellan and Tollymore Road areas.

“NIE emergency engineers were immediately dispatched, assessing the damage and starting repairs,” she said. “Repairs to the electricity network were completed and power was restored later that evening.

“Following the power cut a number of customers contacted NIE with reports of damage

to some electrical equipment. NIE has spoken directly to these customers and is working with loss adjusters to assess any damage.

“We would always recommend that where possible, customers fit surge protection equipment and turn off all electrical equipment during power cuts. More details can be found on the customer information section of our website at nie.co.uk.”