Sir, - Can the ESB manage an emergency situation? I live in Brownswood, Portlaw, Co Waterford. This area was without power for three full days from Christmas Eve. No electricity in rural areas means no water, no light, no central heating, no cooking, and the fridge and freezer warming up.
Prevention: Part of the storm damage could have been prevented if the ESB had maintained the "power cable corridor" in the Brownswood forest. High trees are growing near the cable and at least three fell on it on Christmas Eve, causing serious mains damage.
We moved into our house last March. The ESB engineer who connected our electricity supply explained why the cable had to run through the middle of our fields, far away from the trees. We showed him that the existing mains cable was running close to the forest trees and he agreed that this was a bad situation. But nothing has been done to improve it. There is a big chance that other trees will fall on this cable in the next strong gale.
Bureaucracy: We tried to ring the ESB in Waterford several times on Christmas Day, but there was no answer. In the end we and our neighbours rang Dungarvan and Clonmel. All of us got shameful answers, such as, "I haven't a clue what is going on in Brownswood . . ." and, "That is not our area . . ." Why can the ESB officers not be more helpful to clients in an emergency? Why are they acting so bureaucratically?
Promises, but no action: On St Stephen's Day an ESB engineer examined the damage in Brownswood and said that the cable would be repaired first thing the following morning the first thing they would do was to repair this cable. But nobody turned up. When I ran the ESB in Waterford, I was told someone would come between three and four o'clock and that we would have power at about five o'clock. Again nobody turned up, and about 25 houses had to spend a third and night without electricity.
Although we appreciate the efforts of ESB staff to restore the situation as quickly as possible, my conclusion is that the ESB is exhibiting mismanagement: lack of maintenance in a forested areas, poor communication between ESB offices, and wrong information to the public.-Yours, etc.,
Mrs Joanna Buursma,
Brownswood, Co Waterford.