Ennerdale House suffers power cut in the middle of a blizzard

Yet again the residents of the 90 flats in Ennerdale House have suffered the repercussions of yet another power cut.  This knocked out:

• the lifts (for everybody)
• the central heating (for everybody)
• the hot water (for everybody)

All of this from early this morning - right the way through the blizzard and the bitterly cold temperatures of Saturday 18th December.

Ennerdale House :

barely visible in the Blizzard 

at 1pm on 18.12.10.

EDF were called by Lene Milaa the MERA Secretary at 8.30am and turned up as promised by 12.00 to sort out the Phase which had "blown a fuse" or whatever caused the power cut.

In the meantime Mark Taylor, the MERA Chair - now a veteran of the power cut scenario  and the problems is causes for heating and hot water in the block - turned his attention to the fact that the pump would need to be restarted to get the hot water back on.  

As it was a Saturday morning Mark Taylor approached Bernie Cameron, Chair of the Mile End Estate Management Board for help.  Fortunately he was able to contact the people who fix the pumps and the hot water was coming back for some flats by the middle of the afternoon - although the lifts were still not working and neither was the heating.

More updates later.

[UPDATE:  Everything was up and running by 15.00. Lift - Water pumps etc - heating took till about 17.00 to build itself up to reasonable strength]

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Multiple Power Cuts in Mile End still unexplained

Buildings in and around the Eric and Treby Street Estate have been suffering a number of power cuts for the last four weeks. 

We think there have been four in total.  They've started since Telford Homes plc have been on site and plugging in to the Estate electricity supply - although this may be coincidental. The last one was on the night of 14th-15th July.

Thursday morning 8:30m

EDF Energy plc's big hole on the corner of Eric Street and Hamlets Way

Night of 14-15th July

This is the sequence of events for the latest power cut - as recorded by Mark Taylor, the Chair of MERA, and other residents on the 17th floor of  Ennerdale House.

Date	Time	What happened
14th July	22.00	Power out to all flats (on 17th floor):  No Lifts No Drinking Water Pump.  No phones where electricity required for operation. Emergency Lights on landing and stairs: lights dimmer than usual but OK.
	22.30	MERA Secretary reports to EDF Emergency Line EDF say they could see a fault on the system - probably a fuse in a sub station on Southern Grove. Engineers called but could not give ETA of power supply.
15th July	01.41	EDF log: Job was reclassified from "fuse" to "underground network fault".  Engineers attempted work around (?) at LB6 (Link Box 6)
	02.00ish	17th floor:  power came back on temporarily
	03.09	EDF log:  Engineer reports verbal abuse from member of the public while attempting to use "sniffer"
	04.31	EDF log:  Power returned
	05.30	Chair of MERA called EDF emergency line to find out reason for power cut.  They could not say but suggested he call back later.
	05.40	Chair of MERA called LBTH emergency service and reported lift serving odd floors still not working and lack of water to pump not working.  (The pump needs to be restarted after every power cut and any air block cleared before water pumps to top floors.) Told this would be fixed by midday (ie 14 HOURS AFTER WATER LOST).
	06.50	Water back on to top floors of Ennerdale House.
	08.30	3 EDF engineers on Hamlets Way probing the pavement with device and taking notes on clip board.  They said they were still investigating fault and may have to cut power again - but not to Ennerdale.
	09:00	Power to Ennerdale House went off again!

EastendHomes posted this letter (see below) to residents of Coniston House, Ennerdale House, Beckley House, Windermere House and Derwent House

However it needs to be noted that the fault also affected the private houses in Eric Street as well.

Two important points:

• EastendHomes and/or its agent LBTH Emergency Service are responsible for supplying drinking water to ALL HOMES which are without drinking water supplies as a result of the pump not working.  

Thames Water are obligated to arrange for an alternative supply, such as by water tanker or standpipe, they cannot put your supply back on within 6 hours of the interruption.  The same standard should apply to EastendHomes if a pump is not fixed and water supply restored to all tenants and leaseholders within 6 hours.

• Since the fault (and associated power cuts) has only started happening since Telford Homes has been on site, EDF Energy, EastendHomes and Telford Homes plc need to make sure - as a matter of priority - that the fault is not caused by anything that Telford Homes have done when digging holes and plugging into the network supply.

Tip:  Until such time as there is an adequate explanation of what the fault is and confidence that it has been fixed we suggest that you keep a stock of drinking water at home which is adequate for 6 hours - especially if the weather is hot and you have small children.