Peter Hobbs, who lives in Charter Alley, says he is concerned that elderly and vulnerable residents will be affected by the planned power outage, due to be carried out by SSEN on Monday, January 13.
The outage will see homes in the area be without power from 9am to 4pm while the energy company installs a pole-mounted electricity transformer to ‘provide additional capacity for new homes’ being built in the area.
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Peter Hobbs (Image: Peter Hobbs)
Peter, who lives in the area with his wife and two children, says he finds it ‘incredulous’ that a company would cut power during a cold snap.
He added: “I accept that the electricity has to be turned off, but not in these conditions.”
SSEN said that residents were informed of the outage in December, via a letter sent to ‘all affected properties’.
However, Peter says that since the correspondence, he has raised concerns with the company which were met with comments recommending him to ‘fill a Thermos at the beginning of the day’.
He continued: “Another said to me ‘What’s the difference with an outage to a power cut’.
“They said that since they provided the letter, people would have advanced notice so they could leave for the day, but not everyone has somewhere else to go.
“Part of my frustration is this unbelievable attitude from them.”
Peter has written to the CEO of SSEN about his concerns for vulnerable residents, in addition to contacting MP Kit Malthouse, who raised Peter’s concerns to the company.
“They’re proactively turning off power when there is still snow on the ground. I’m surprised there is no policy for power to not be turned off under certain weather conditions,” he concluded.
A spokesperson for SSEN said: “The work scheduled on Charter Alley in Tadley for Monday 13 January 2025 will see the installation of a new pole-mounted electricity transformer.
This will modernise the local network in the area, and provide additional capacity for new homes currently being constructed.
“Residents whose supply will be interrupted due to these works were posted letters in early December, over one month ahead of the works beginning.
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“This correspondence provided them with information about the reasons for the planned outage, along with advice on preparations that can be made prior to the power going off, and contact details in the event residents have any further questions.
“In addition to this correspondence which was sent to all affected properties last month, repeated efforts to speak directly to more vulnerable customers on our Priority Services Register who are affected by this planned interruption have been made over the past few weeks.
“These visits were made both prior to and following the approval of the Planned Service Interruption. They provided the opportunity for residents to ask us questions about the planned works and meant we could offer them specific help and support if needed.”