Power cuts: Blame it on the birds

POWER problems in the Dallington area are being caused by pesky birds on the lines.

In the last two months alone, about 350 homes in the village experienced interruptions to the electricity supply on nine separate occasions.

Woods Corner resident Cllr Roger Thomas wrote to the managing director of Seeboard, the owner and maintainer of the local electricity network, to press for an answer to the problem.

In his letter, Cllr Thomas said it caused considerable concern to old people 'who have numerous appliances on timer devices', and was also disrupting local business.

'As the vice chairman of a county council that prides itself on its electronic viability, I am constantly being let down by your service,' he said in the letter. 'This in turn reflects on my ability to serve my electorate.'

He added: 'I am deeply concerned with the lack of service that Seeboard is providing. I trust as chief executive you will not give the fluffy answers provided by your staff.'

A spokesman from Seeboard this week told the Sussex Express that the short interruptions, each of only a few seconds, are usually caused by transient events like birds landing on overhead lines or debris being blown on to them.

Such faults are detected by 'auto-reclosing circuit breakers' or 'reclosers', which are switches that disconnect the power supply then re-connect it a few seconds later when the fault has gone.

The spokesman added: 'We know these short cuts can be inconvenient, but the use of reclosers avoids permanent damage that would otherwise cause a much longer interruption to power supplies.'

In addition to the nine short interruptions, the power supply to 780 customers in the Dallington area was cut off for up to two and a half hours on August 3 during a lightning storm.

Jim Tame, managing director of Seeboard, has apologised for all power interruptions and has written to Cllr Thomas to assure him that further investigations are being given the highest priority.