John Dolan: No power for a week and not a cent in compo

If you’re reading this by torch or candlelight after spending more than a week with no power, then you have my deepest sympathy.

I speak from experience, as the memory of having no power for five days after the hurricane-force Storm Darwin battered Cork in 2014 is still etched in my memory.

The cold, the darkness, the lack of water and central heating, no internet, the kids complaining about no TV or gadgets... I shudder just thinking about it.

If a kindly neighbour hadn’t lent us a diesel generator on day four, I think I would have gone stir crazy.

And that was only five days, says you, as you enter day nine of your power-less ordeal... and counting.

The impact of Storm Éowyn the Thursday before last continues to reverberate, with 86,000 ESB customers still waiting for their power to return, despite the best efforts of the company, bolstered by teams drafted in from the UK and the continent.

Nobody would dispute that the workers on the ground have done brilliant work in restoring the connections to so many households and businesses after an estimated three-quarters of a million premises initially lost power.

However, the high-ups in the ESB, and the Government too, must face some awkward questions in the aftermath.

In the short-term, they might both look at the compensation - or lack thereof - that is available to households and businesses worst affected by the loss of power.

Because, I kid you not, nobody affected by these power cuts can claim a cent in compensation from the ESB for the trials and tribulations of the past week.

The ESB’s Customer Charter even recognises the problems a long stint without power can cause to domestic and business customers, and has a compensation plan in place.

“If you are without power for 24 hours after we were notified of the fault, you can claim €65 if you are a domestic customer or €130 if you are a business customer,” the Charter states. “You can claim an extra €35 for every additional 12 hours you are without power.”

Such a sum would amount to around €500 for those only getting power back today after Storm Éowyn. Something to numb the pain.

But hold your horses.

The ESB Charter goes on to say: “In exceptional cases such as storms or extensive disruption to electricity supplies, we cannot offer this guarantee.”

An ESB spokesperson this week confirmed that this guarantee would indeed not apply to Storm Éowyn, and that no compensation would be paid to those who lost power.

This seems to me to be singularly unfair.

Perhaps the shiny new Government could have sat down with the ESB at the outset and thrashed out a compensation deal: say, €250 to each household and business that lost power for more than 72 hours.

After all, the Government has handed out two payments of €125 apiece to all households this winter to help assuage high electricity prices - surely another €250 to those suffering lengthy power cuts would be a fair sum.

Some might argue that house insurance and business insurance can compensate people for their losses, but grounds for such claims are limited regarding power cuts.

I checked my own home insurance, and although I could be able to claim for the lost contents of a freezer after a lengthy power cut, for instance, I would be liable for the first €50.

Would it be worth making the claim in that instance, especially if it meant a bumped-up premium the next time I renew?

The abject misery suffered by so many people who lost power for several days is deserving of far more than whatever few euro can be prised out of the Scrooge-like insurance companies.

Aside from the issue of compensation, there is another reason the ESB and the Government need to get their heads together and ask some awkward questions in the wake of Storm Éowyn. This relates to the actual infrastructure of our energy systems going forward.

There is a growing perception among many people, particularly outside the large towns and cities, that our energy infrastructure is creaking at the seams and becoming more and more unreliable, as well as remaining among the most expensive in the western world.

Is this perception correct?

While Storm Éowyn has been cast as a once-in-a-century weather event, did it justify the huge volume of power cuts that resulted? And could the lengthy delays in getting power back in some places be reduced next time this happens?

If we are to expect more severe storms in the years ahead due to climate change, how can we make our power lines more reliable? Is there a case for more underground cables to secure supply?

As Ireland moves towards supposedly cheaper, more renewable energy, why is our power supply seemingly more volatile and more expensive than ever?

And what about the proliferation of data centres, which soak up so much of our power? Are we going to keep opening them? Indeed, were any of them affected at all by power cuts last week?!

On a personal level, I would vouch for the fact that my own home power supply in a semi-rural part of County Cork has become widely erratic in the past decade, compared with the decade before.

(As an aside, we have had a boiled water notice since September in the Macroom area - another example of our apparently creaking state infrastructure).

I note that the minister who has just been appointed to the energy ticket is Darragh O’Brien, who also has responsibility for (deep breath) transport, climate, and the environment.

That is a lot of responsibility on one pair of shoulders.

And if our creaking energy infrastructure is really as bad as some of us fear, the minister might soon be craving for the relative quiet life of the housing department he previously ran.