Scottish Power Manweb gives four whole days notice to power cut
Rather than the obligatory two days notice for a power cut, the owner of an activity centre, who fears he could lose thousands of pounds in his high season after being given just four days notice that electricity will switched off at Glasfryn Activity Parc and Bowling Centre, at Y Ffôr, near Pwllheli. Owner, Jonathan Elis-Williams, received a hand-delivered note from Scottish Power Manweb informing him of the decision with four days notice. The company says it needs to cut the power so that another customer down the line – Williams and Williams skip hire in Chwilog – can have essential engineering works done.
Elis-Williams, who employs 30 people, had spoken to Williams and Williams "Who told me they paid the cheque back in January. It’s taken two months for the Environment Agency to discuss how they would take the power line over Afon Erch. But I’ve only been given four days warning."
“We have got a bowling alley here. We may have to tell people that we are closing for the day. If we start to turn people away it will be terrible for us. We’ve also got a farm shop and credit card machines for the go-karts as well. We have computer and telephone systems which rely on electricity, which could lead us to losing out on work. This would inevitably lead to a big loss of revenue. We’ve now hired a generator instead and are paying £800.
“Our busiest time of the year is the summer holidays. If we are to be left without electricity for even a short period of time then we are looking at not being able to provide the service and activities that people expect and would probably have to close for the day.
Elis-Williams said he could only hope the generator does the job, but fears the generator alone may not be enough to keep the centre running and that he will lose business as a result.
A spokesman for Scottish Power said the company was operating within the rules.
“Whenever supplies are affected we strive to issue notification as early as possible. In this instance notification went out ... to allow four days’ notice for affected properties. The statutory notification period is two days,” he said. “We have carried out as much preparatory work as possible to try and minimise the time that power supplies will be down and are hopeful that work will be completed before the time stated in our notification.”
Source: http://www.dailypost.co.uk