NIE work to restore power to customers

Hundreds of NIE staff worked through the night to restore power to customers affected by the severe storm force winds which swept across Northern Ireland in the last 24 hours.

NIE said that on Monday morning around 800 customers across Northern Ireland were known to be without electricity supplies and that all of these customers could expect to have power restored as initial repairs were completed throughout the day.

A spokesperson for NIE said: "Any customers off supply after 2.00pm today [Wednesday] should call NIE to make sure we are aware of the fault affecting their power supply.

"It may be necessary to take some customers off supply to make permanent repairs. We will make every effort to inform customers via the media before interrupting supplies."

NIE have asked those customers still affected to call NIE on 08457 643 643 and listen to the full recorded message which will provide the latest information available. Where possible, customers will be answered by a call handler, otherwise there will be a separate facility to leave a message to report visible damage to the electricity network such as broken poles or lines.

Overnight, hundreds of NIE engineers were called out to help restore supplies following severe weather damage. Call handlers and administrative staff helped to provide regular updates for customers with the Incident Management Centre at Craigavon and Local Incident Centres kept open.

NIE said that it was the largest ever mobilization, with up to 900 staff working including 580 NIE linesmen and engineers, 100 call handlers and administrative staff and management reinforcing the company’s normal capability to restore supplies.

Specialist equipment, including earth moving equipment, cranes and helicopters was also brought in to assist with the restoration work.

On Monday morning, NIE was in the process of releasing resources to assist with the restoration of electricity supplies in the Republic of Ireland.

(SP)