Customers who suffered power loss as a result of Storm Éowyn should see “some type of gesture” in terms of compensation by NIE, it has been argued.
The call came from DUP Alderman Gareth Wilson at the monthly meeting of ABC Council.
The meeting came at a time when many households were still left in the dark days after the red-alert storm battered the country.
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were left without electricity, with the monthly council meeting hearing of some of the individual cases and struggles faced by families in such dire circumstances.
There were praise too heaped on the workers on the frontline, who toiled day and night to try and put right the immeasureable damage meted out by Éowyn.
Councillor Thomas O’Hanlon echoed his colleagues’ heartfelt thanks to NIE over their “post-storm response”, but felt lessons should be learned too.
The SDLP representative for Armagh DEA commented at the meeting: “There are still large parts of the borough in darkness and cold and with the prospect of many more days to come.
“Many of these people are elderly. Carers for those on the Critical Care Register have been reaching out to us.
“I’ve also had parents of new-born babies not knowing what to do, and those who depend on medical equipment actually feel completely abandoned.
“I really do appreciate the effort NIE staff have been making, however there needs to be a better response, there needs to be better ways of supporting those on that Critical Care Register, better ways of communicating with their customers, and better ways of collaborating with other agencies to speed up the response and the repair dates.
“I believe it was a mistake to try and give estimated repair dates. If you’re sitting in the cold on a Sunday evening, and you’re being told ‘It’s going to be Thursday before you’re back on’, or the following Monday, I think that was wrong.
“I think that has only added to people’s anxiety and apprehension, and in many of these cases the areas haven’t been inspected and it’s just a date on a spreadsheet.
“So I believe this has only added to the problems that we and indeed colleagues in NIE are experiencing.
“It’s not meant to be criticism, but there are lessons to to be learned from the response, and I think that’s probably one of them.”
Portadown DEA Councillor Lavelle McIlwrath called on the council to do more to support rural dwellers, as had been the case during the Covid pandemic.
“I want to echo every comment that’s been made in relation to the response from all agencies, including this council, much appreciated,” said the DUP man.
“However, I have hundreds of constituents, many of them elderly and infirm and sick, that have no power, and they’ve got a restoration date maybe a week from now.
“As we came through Covid this council stepped up to the mark, and supported our rural dwellers, because essentially that’s what we’re talking about tonight.
“It’s mainly those in rural areas who may not be back on for another number of days.
“Can we look, when funding becomes available or from reserves, that we would have a scheme to support our rural communities that we rolled out a couple of times during Covid, which was brilliant.
“Maybe that’s something to consider as we move into recovery over the next couple of weeks, that we would support our rural community, very much like we did through Covid, through our community groups, our voluntary community groups, and various organisations that were brilliant at getting food packs out and all of those practical needs.
Party colleague Alderman Gareth Wilson argued that the issue of compensation should be raised with NIE as well.
“We do obviously appreciate all the hard work that’s being done across the whole province and within Council as well, but I feel the council should contact NIE in our corporate and professional standpoint, and ask if compensation can be offered, because I know that’s something’s that has been raised with me repeatedly,” said the Cusher representative.
“It would be useful, I think, corporately for our council to put forward a message that ‘Yes, while we understand all the pressures on NIE at the minute, there is a sense amongst consumers that people should be compensated for all the difficulties that they have experienced’.
“People have had to go and hire their own generators for some of the medical issues, and the people that are talking to me are saying they’ve lost quite a bit.
“Farmers are in a lot of difficulty too with prolonged outages, so I think compensation would be a gesture.
“I mean, our council’s done gestures before for various things, and it’s been well received.
“I think NIE need to understand that that is something that will be expected when the dust settles.
“Our council should be leading in asking for that, that there is some type of gesture for consumers out there, maybe in their next bill, that they’re not going to be looking at maybe an increase, they’re going to be looking at maybe a bit of credit in their account.
“I would make it a proposal that we do put that together and get it off to NIE corporately.”
Alderman Wilson’s proposal was seconded by DUP Councillor Scott Armstrong.
