Are ESB Networks doing a good job repairing storm damage?

Freddy Smelly

an eircom technician died while trying to repair some of the storm damage. RIP Michael O’Riordan and condolences to all his family

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/family-michael-oriordan-devastated-after-3150354

martingriff

rubberdiddies wrote: »

I have to agree with this to some extent. It is their job and they get paid handsomely to do that. I know a couple of people who work for ESB networks and they love their job and get paid VERY well. In saying that, I don't envy them having to climb the heights in this weather, however that is what they are trained and paid to do.

Why is there less sympathy for the mobile phone companies when they have such outages which also require climbing heights and towers to restore service?

Just wondering what the people who climb the poles I know average pay but hell if you have 2 people in a company one on €150K and one on €20K and get the average you would think both get paid very well.

Anyone who had to go out and work on Wednesday and in high winds to fix things deserve resspect

end of the road

fastrac wrote: »

My gripe is the total lack of information from Customer Services.Half the faults are not shown and they seem to have no idea of a repair time. we are the only house out around and have a long wait ahead of us.

they won't necessarily know the fault until they find it so it might take a while before they have any information, when they find the fault they won't know straight away in some cases how long it will take to fix it so its best not to give an exact time if their not sure, sometimes they will know and from my experience the information is given when known

end of the road

Jester252 wrote: »

I hated the way that the ESB had to release a statement, in the middle of the storm, telling people that the crews will be out as soon as high winds die down. I can't believe people wanted these guys to go out and climb ESB poles.

some people live in a bubble and can't deal with being inconvenienced for any length of time, they expect everything to run at all times and never break down or stop working due to age and so on.

Amprodude

end of the road wrote: »

some people live in a bubble and can't deal with being inconvenienced for any length of time, they expect everything to run at all times and never break down or stop working due to age and so on.

Come down off your high horse. Its ok for you because you arent without power and can enjoy the benefits of having it back again. For me and im sure is the same for some others are without power since 12.30pm last Wednesday and was told that it could take until Tuesday this week to fix. Its unacceptable in this modern era. We can do without power for 1-2 days but it becomes frustrating then. Main problem is there arent enough of the esb crew around to fix problems too many cutbacks when they badly needed and becsuse i live in the middle of nowhere im going to have to wait. I have rang them numerous times but nothing they can do apparantely. No water, no heat, no cooking no washing and no light you can see why the average person in this situation is pissed off.

jack presley

Amprodude wrote: »

There arent enough of the esb crew around to fix problems

As well as the overpaid stuff that gets thrown around at ESB workers, isn't the 'they're way over staffed for what's needed' always thrown around as well?

martingriff

Amprodude wrote: »

Come down off your high horse. Its ok for you because you arent without power and can enjoy the benefits of having it back again. For me and im sure is the same for some others are without power since 12.30pm last wednesday and was told that it could take until Tuesday this week to fix. Its unacceptable in this modern era. We can do without power for 1-2 days but it becomes frustrating then. Main problem is there arent enough of the esb crew around to fix problems too many cutbacks when they badly needed and becsuse i live in the middle of nowhere im going to have to wait. I have rang them numerous times but nothing they can do apparantely. No water, no heat, no cooking no washing and no light you can see why the average person in this situation is pissed off.

I know you are pissed off and waiting untill Tuesday is a long time. However 2 things. Firstly the message you replied to was people expecting the ESB crew to go and fix it straight away during the high winds which is stupid. Secondly there is many reasons why lines are still down such as trees and other fallen debris stopping the esb from working. The ESB do not cut down the trees.

Hope you get your power back soon

Femme_Fatale

Amprodude wrote: »

Come down off your high horse. Its ok for you because you arent without power and can enjoy the benefits of having it back again. For me and im sure is the same for some others are without power since 12.30pm last Wednesday and was told that it could take until Tuesday this week to fix. Its unacceptable in this modern era. We can do without power for 1-2 days but it becomes frustrating then. Main problem is there arent enough of the esb crew around to fix problems too many cutbacks when they badly needed and becsuse i live in the middle of nowhere im going to have to wait. I have rang them numerous times but nothing they can do apparantely. No water, no heat, no cooking no washing and no light you can see why the average person in this situation is pissed off.

It is absolutely horrible, and I'd be miserable too, but the blame lies with one entity only: the weather.

iora_rua

Got our power back early afternoon in a rural off the road location, with a number of trees having fallen on the line. Did have to chase for a repair crew to come to our aid, but the main problem was that only a few of our neighbours had bothered to report any fault, so we were all at the bottom of the queue! The ESB are not telepathic - each household in a given area needs to log the fault, or the operator just presumes that you're the only one affected, so you have to wait ... and wait!!!

Anyway, when the crew arrived, they did a great job very quickly - a mix of local ESB folk and a group from Norn Iron who got through the offending trees in jig time. So four not very pleasant days ended at last. Thank you ESB from one happy customer !

LoonyLovegood

I'll try find the photo, I think it was posted on twitter, but a piece of machinery they were using had literally just sunk down a hill. They're doing fantastic work, and getting around to it as quickly as possible.

Of course, if Ireland had proper planning laws and we didn't have so many damn one off houses around the place (excluding farms and the like, obviously), it'd have been fixed far sooner.

EDIT: Found it! https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgmjVQ0CIAABqaE.jpg:large

Stavros Murphy

Plates wrote: »

From recent news reports there are 60,000 houses without power in Ireland. By comparison there are 140,000 in the UK.

Given that the population of the UK is approximately 14 times that of Ireland, it begs the question, are ESB networks doing enough? Or maybe there's an issue with the standard of construction of the network in the first place?

Feck off out in your parka and show them how to do it.

The ESB have a reputation internationally as being one of the best in the business, as it happens.

Freddy Smelly

Amprodude wrote: »

Come down off your high horse. Its ok for you because you arent without power and can enjoy the benefits of having it back again. For me and im sure is the same for some others are without power since 12.30pm last Wednesday and was told that it could take until Tuesday this week to fix. Its unacceptable in this modern era. We can do without power for 1-2 days but it becomes frustrating then. Main problem is there arent enough of the esb crew around to fix problems too many cutbacks when they badly needed and becsuse i live in the middle of nowhere im going to have to wait. I have rang them numerous times but nothing they can do apparantely. No water, no heat, no cooking no washing and no light you can see why the average person in this situation is pissed off.

high horse???? you expect someone to risk their & their families' lively hood to stand up on a pole trying to restore power with high voltage lines in gale force winds just so you can have electricity???? cop on. safety first man safety first!!!!!! you wouldnt get up on a ladder to wash the windows in gale force winds so why expect others to have to fix high voltage line in gale force winds.

end of the road

Amprodude wrote: »

Come down off your high horse. Its ok for you because you arent without power and can enjoy the benefits of having it back again. For me and im sure is the same for some others are without power since 12.30pm last Wednesday and was told that it could take until Tuesday this week to fix. Its unacceptable in this modern era. We can do without power for 1-2 days but it becomes frustrating then. Main problem is there arent enough of the esb crew around to fix problems too many cutbacks when they badly needed and becsuse i live in the middle of nowhere im going to have to wait. I have rang them numerous times but nothing they can do apparantely. No water, no heat, no cooking no washing and no light you can see why the average person in this situation is pissed off.

1. i live in the middle of nowhere so i know what it can be like when the power goes out.
2. i had my power go 2 nights in a row, probably switched off so repairs could be carried out on part of the line, guess what, better that happen then it be left on and someone be electricuted while fixing it.
3. i don't know have staff been cut in the ESB apart from retirements however either way fixing such a complicated and large system will take time even if only part of it goes down

Peregrine

sawdoubters wrote: »

if the esb was privatized like some politicians are talking about ,the wait for repairs will take longer

I don't think there were any plans to privatise ESB Networks?

Freddy Smelly

Nimrod 7 wrote: »

I don't think there were any plans to privatise ESB Networks?

esb is about the only profitable company the gov own why would they sell it?

end of the road

Freddy Smelly wrote: »

esb is about the only profitable company the gov own why would they sell it?

political gain? much of the public are deluded that private sector = good, efficient and cheep, while public sector = bad, expensive, inefficient, and overstaffed. of course such privatization was done in britain for those exact reasons but it has more or less backfired from what i can see but no government has the balls to renationalize for the simple reason their could be donations at stake?

Victor

Plates wrote: »

From recent news reports there are 60,000 houses without power in Ireland. By comparison there are 140,000 in the UK.

Given that the population of the UK is approximately 14 times that of Ireland, it begs the question, are ESB networks doing enough? Or maybe there's an issue with the standard of construction of the network in the first place?

But the British network isn't 14 times the size of the Irish one - people in Britain live so much closer to each other on average. You would expect much fewer faults in urban areas - less exposed and fewer overhead lines.

Republic of Ireland, Area 70,273 km²
United Kingdom, Area 243,610 km²

Freddy Smelly wrote: »

esb is about the only profitable company the gov own why would they sell it?

Amprodude

Freddy Smelly wrote: »

high horse???? you expect someone to risk their & their families' lively hood to stand up on a pole trying to restore power with high voltage lines in gale force winds just so you can have electricity???? cop on. safety first man safety first!!!!!! you wouldnt get up on a ladder to wash the windows in gale force winds so why expect others to have to fix high voltage line in gale force winds.

Today is Monday not last Wednesday when the storm occurred. Nobody expected esb to go standing poles the day of storm but i did expect them to have power restored by today and i still dont have power so obviously im not one bit happy.

Amprodude

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

It is absolutely horrible, and I'd be miserable too, but the blame lies with one entity only: the weather.

Trees that pose a danger to esb lines should be cut down well in advance of a storm. Some fallen trees cant be prevented and some fallen lines cant but vast majority could be advoided if lines were maintained properly and nearby trees that have potential for damage cut down before a storm does it. Simple measures.

Amprodude

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

It is absolutely horrible, and I'd be miserable too, but the blame lies with one entity only: the weather.

Trees that pose a danger to esb lines should be cut down well in advance of a storm. Some fallen trees cant be prevented and some fallen lines cant but vast majority could be advoided if lines were maintained properly and nearby trees that have potential for damage cut down before a storm does it. Simple measures.

kneemos

Amprodude wrote: »

Trees that pose a danger to esb lines should be cut down well in advance of a storm. Some fallen trees cant be prevented and some fallen lines cant but vast majority could be advoided if lines were maintained properly and nearby trees that have potential for damage cut down before a storm does it. Simple measures.

You would need to cut down millions of trees in that case.
From what I've seen they have a policy of keeping branches clear of lines,which is probably the most they can do.

Cienciano

Victor wrote: »

But the British network isn't 14 times the size of the Irish one - people in Britain live so much closer to each other on average. You would expect much fewer faults in urban areas - less exposed and fewer overhead lines.

Republic of Ireland, Area 70,273 km²
United Kingdom, Area 243,610 km²

Spot on, ireland has something like 8 times the MV network per customer that uk has

Amprodude

kneemos wrote: »

You would need to cut down millions of trees in that case.
From what I've seen they have a policy of keeping branches clear of lines,which is probably the most they can do.

Not if it was been done regularly. We wont have half the problems we have.

Amprodude

kneemos wrote: »

You would need to cut down millions of trees in that case.
From what I've seen they have a policy of keeping branches clear of lines,which is probably the most they can do.

Not if it was been done regularly. We wont have half the problems we have.

kneemos

Amprodude wrote: »

Not if it was been done regularly. We wont have half the problems we have.

Not sure what you mean but most of our rural roads are lined
by trees.
You could probably top young trees I suppose.

Femme_Fatale

Would Coillte be ok with lots of trees being chopped down, some of which may not even be felled?
Is it only trees that cause the damage to electricity lines?

kneemos

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Would Coillte be ok with lots of trees being chopped down, some of which may not even be felled?
Is it only trees that cause the damage to electricity lines?

Sometimes old poles just blow over or snap.
Downed poles was a major problem during the last big storm in the nineties,afaik they've renewed a lot of them.

slimjimmc

Amprodude wrote: »

Trees that pose a danger to esb lines should be cut down well in advance of a storm. Some fallen trees cant be prevented and some fallen lines cant but vast majority could be advoided if lines were maintained properly and nearby trees that have potential for damage cut down before a storm does it. Simple measures.

And how do you propose to evaluate if a tree poses a danger or not. The vast majority of the trees that fell in this storm posed no danger in previous storms for decades otherwise they'ld have been long since blown over.
Or do you propose cutting down every tree in the vicinity of a power line just in case?

Amprodude

slimjimmc wrote: »

And how do you propose to evaluate if a tree poses a danger or not. The vast majority of the trees that fell in this storm posed no danger in previous storms for decades otherwise they'ld have been long since blown over.
Or do you propose cutting down every tree in the vicinity of a power line just in case?

Any tree near enough to a line that if it falls would make contact with line or at the very least cut the top off them. Im driving every day and i see alot of trees near power lines that dont need to be there. All of these power cuts cant be prevented but the most of them can.

richardw001

Amprodude wrote: »

Any tree near enough to a line that if it falls would make contact with line or at the very least cut the top off them. Im driving every day and i see alot of trees near power lines that dont need to be there. All of these power cuts cant be prevented but the most of them can.

Have to agree with the above - the crews on the ground have done brilliant work over the last week - however I would venture to say alot of the damage and loss of power could have been avoided if the trees were kept down (Google any countries policies) and poles replaced when they get old . based on the charges we pay for esb ( very high) there's no reason why this couldn't have been done - they should be looking at every case where there was an outage and be asking serious questions - god help us if we ever get a real disaster in this country