Are the ESB making work for themselves???

meercat

Have had some dealings with the ESB lately mostly with metering and i have found their attitude most uncooperative and am wondering are they trying to make work for themselves by repeatedly returning to jobs?Is this because there is no work for all staff and has there been instructions issued?Just wondering what everyones experience is. Thanks in advance

Rev. BlueJeans

Rubbish.

If there was an issue with a metering connection, then the policy is to withdraw and most likely apply a revisit fee.

It's not as if construction staff et. al. shouldn't be well aware of the rules by now anyway.

These staff you deem uncooperative are subject to quality and safety audits by the company to make sure that their work, and that of the customer interface they work at by implication, is up to safety and quality standards.

Are you going to share with us the issues you've encountered at all?

Curtis E Bear

agree with the rev. most customer call backs are due to customer apparatus below standard. the call back fee is sometimes forgotten about unless there are repeat visits.

OLP

No the ESB have plenty of work to be doing with maintenance and upgrades.

Fnergg

The reason for any return calls is invariably because the work on the customer's side has not been done in accordance with the required standards.

All electrical contractors are well aware of what these standards are and if they fall short ESB Networks will not carry out their side of the transaction be it a connection of supply, a relocation of a meter or whatever.

Some contractors over the years have found this insistence on standards compliance to be an annoyance, usually because it costs them more to do so.

The ESB will always specify why exactly they cannot complete the job and the idea that they are trying to create work for themselves is ludicrous.

Make sure the job is done properly from your side and you'll have no problems with the ESB.

Regards,

Fnergg

Dotsie~tmp

IMO yes they are. Thinks are slack in there like everywhere and are trying to dig up revenue with unnecessary work. On a recent job (renovation) the site was operating on the old supply with a temp board off it. It was eventually to be move to a new meter pos via uderground not overhead but only later in the build.

They came to the site twice uninvited ad parked outside. The third time they disconnected citing unsafe supply. On contacting them they said the supply could be reconnected for about €400 with no mention of safety concerns. All this was without any certs being sent. They only even knew about the job because the ESB engineer was consulted about the new supply route for later on. For years its been hard to get the ESB to even turn up. Now 2 vans loiter outside trying to gouge builders.

OLP

That's because ESB Networks can take priority over any building work going on anywhere if their network is involved. And the reason you couldn't get hold of them before is because the amount of new connections was obviously unreal, but as I say now that has wound down most of the work is in maintenaning and upgrading the network. Although I can understand why most builders dislike the ESB because of the priority of their work on a build.

Fnergg

It has always been part of ESB Networks remit to keep an eye out for unsafe practices on building sites - being "uninvited" doesn't come into it: they are rarely going to be invited - and it seems to me in this instance they identified an unsafe practice and intervened to stop it.

"For years its been hard to get the ESB to even turn up". Tell that to the 100,000 customers who got their new connections done on time every year over the last few years. Tell that to the customers whose supplies are restored within a few hours when faults occur etc.,etc.

Yes, work volumes have reduced - the average rate of new connections over the next few years will be well less than half of what they were during the Tiger era - but there is plently of work still to be done. And there have been significant staff reductions - particularly this year with many having taken advantage of the Voluntary Severance Scheme.

Regards,

Fnergg

Rev. BlueJeans

Dotsie~tmp wrote: »

IMO yes they are. Thinks are slack in there like everywhere and are trying to dig up revenue with unnecessary work. On a recent job (renovation) the site was operating on the old supply with a temp board off it. It was eventually to be move to a new meter pos via uderground not overhead but only later in the build.

If it's like some of the temporary supplies I've seen, safety was quite possibly a concern! I gather from your comments that a completion cert was not completed for this temporary distribution board.

I'm wondering too, how the new board was connected without disconnection of the tails. Perhaps the seals fell off the meter?

Dotsie~tmp wrote: »

They came to the site twice uninvited ad parked outside.

Check the general conditions of supply. Nos. 6 and 7 are particularly relevant;

ESB wrote:

1. Equipment and right of access to premises
   1. All equipment and installations, (other than your installation) belong to the DSO at all times and must be kept at the premises and used in line with our or the DSO's instructions.
   2. We accept no responsibility for maintaining any equipment.
   3. You must allow DSO authorised personnel, agents or contractors, at all reasonable times and at any time in an emergency, to enter any premises to which electricity is supplied for the purposes of reading, inspecting, deenergising (switching off the supply) or removing the meter or meters, and for all other purposes in connection with supplying electricity. You must also give us similar rights of access.
2. Your liability if you interfere with or damage our property
   
   You are responsible for looking after all property and other equipment that is placed on your premises or under your control. You will be liable for the cost of any injury or repairing any damage for which you are responsible. You will also have to pay for the charges for electricity that we have estimated you have used that have not been recorded.

Dotsie~tmp wrote: »

The third time they disconnected citing unsafe supply. On contacting them they said the supply could be reconnected for about €400 with no mention of safety concerns. All this was without any certs being sent. They only even knew about the job because the ESB engineer was consulted about the new supply route for later on. For years its been hard to get the ESB to even turn up. Now 2 vans loiter outside trying to gouge builders.

The ESB (Networks I assume you mean), have been tied into their own charter deadlines, as well as those enforced by the CER for quite a while now. Many hundreds of thousands of customers have been connected to the system under these rules, and while there will always be exceptions, generally during that time, any inordinate delays were caused by developer error. It's quite disheartening to see what builders (the vast majority of whom were nothing but helpful and accommodating), even in the face of the profits they were creaming in the good times, were prepared to let slide, or pass on to the end purchaser of homes.

ESB as an organisation have been in the business for 80 years, you can be quite sure that they have the business down to a fine art at this stage.

Why would Networks staff be driven by a wish to catch people out? Do you think perhaps that memos were circulated to the lads in the yellow vans offering them commission on any fines or charges they could extract from the general public?

Rest assured, in Networks' role as the DSO (Distribution System Operator), they have more than enough to be doing with ongoing maintenance, supplier requests, smart metering pilot schemes, and dealing with faults, and indeed safety issues from people who think the supply is something they can tinker with at leisure.

If people played by the rules, much irritation, danger, and hassle would be avoided and everyone would be happier.

Dotsie~tmp

Fnergg wrote: »

It has always been part of ESB Networks remit to keep an eye out for unsafe practices on building sites - being "uninvited" doesn't come into it: they are rarely going to be invited - and it seems to me in this instance they identified an unsafe practice and intervened to stop it.

Without ever gaining access to the site?

If it's like some of the temporary supplies I've seen, safety was quite possibly a concern! I gather from your comments that a completion cert was not completed for this temporary distribution board.

I'm wondering too, how the new board was connected without disconnection of the tails. Perhaps the seals fell off the meter?

It wasn't a temp board per say. It was the original board location in the garage (the old installation was actually in good nick) with all old circuits removed, IP enclosure + IP socket below (tails diverted). No major work had started by then just back garden foundations.