20/01/2014 Inside Out South

Hello from Petersfield, and welcome to Inside Out. Tonight it is all

about energy. Power cuts at Christmas as the energy companies

are called to account. Will we face cuts like this in the future? With

fuel bills rising, we investigate the world of energy theft which

could be costing honest households ?30 a year. And how to heat your

home for ?3 a month. I am off to the New Forest to meet an energy

conscious couple. I am Jon Cuthill and this is Inside Out. First

tonight, let's talk power cuts. This winter 130,000 homes and businesses

in the south have been affected. This area was pretty badly hit and

has left customers angry. The government are asking questions

about what went wrong. Christmas, the season of goodwill and a time

for twinkly lights and cooking turkeys. To get the party started

you need electricity and without it, Christmas is not fun. As the big day

approached, big storms battered the South. Power cuts affected thousands

of homes and businesses. Jeff and. From Hampshire went without mains

power for five days. They had a back`up generator but that failed as

well. You have got no TV, no computer, the hand`held telephones

do not work. The mobile masts are out because that has no electricity.

We had a landline telephone so we did have contact but if we did not,

we would have been stuck. Relatives from Australia were over for

Christmas and when the house got cold and damp, this woman got ill

and went to hospital. I nearly cried actually. Each day I thought it

would get better at it did not. It's just got colder. Of course, when it

comes to controlling the elements there is not much one can do. During

extreme weather, there are people we rely on to keep connected. Southern

Electric are responsible for the lines across the South. This is one

of the worst Decembers we have ever had. Flooding was causing problems,

access to look at the faults was very difficult. At the heart of it

we want to know that our customers know what is going on when the power

is off. We want to give them good communication and that they have a

good idea when the power should be back on. Good afternoon, thank you

for calling Southern Electric. Some customers say that information given

over the phone was confusing at best, and completely inaccurate at

worst. When the power cuts hit Hampshire, I went to see how it was

affecting people in this village. The day before Christmas Eve, the

electricity suddenly went. We could not get any proper information. They

said it was a technical fault but then we found out that the line went

down. After a huge amount of boning, somebody eventually told us that it

was impossible to get the power lines up for a long time so at least

we could plan. We had a generator for ten hours but then it ran out of

fuel. We had another one arrived from York. Again, we had another ten

hours of electricity and then that ran out of fuel. And patience was

running thin? Yes. I understand it was a power cut but they should tell

us the truth. At this nursing home in Hampshire, most of the residents

had to stay in bed to stay warm because of the power cuts. Southern

Electric sent a generator on Christmas Day, but no engineer to

hook it up. This was one of the stormiest Decembers we ever had. We

had as many staff as we could working over the period. We had men

in the field getting everything they could to get the power back on.

Sometimes things go wrong and we have to learn from it so we can

improve the service. The `` the company is being accused of giving

too many employees leave. Those on duty insist they were working flat

out to restore power. I did 20 hours on Christmas Day. What did you have

for Christmas lunch? Christmas lunch? I think I had a pot noodle

for my dinner. I went back to work in the afternoon. The crisis at

Christmas has called into question how electricity generated at power

stations gets to our homes. High voltage