Bantry’s ESB power outage sparks fury

AN ESB power outage in Bantry on the busiest day of the week has angered local business people, but the utility has said that the work needs to be carried out urgently.

ESB Networks issued a 9am-5pm outage notification to homes and businesses in the Bantry area for this Thursday (September 29th).

‘Why didn’t they do it on a Wednesday, which is traditionally one of the quietest days in town, or a Sunday?’ asked Hannah Dare, co-owner of Organico.

Thursday is generally one of the busiest trading days, as it is ‘pay day’ for a lot of people. It is also a busy day for deliveries and now any deliveries made this Thursday will have to be checked manually instead of digitally.

She complained that one week’s notice is insufficient because most businesses do not have generators and cannot arrange to have them in place in that space of time.

She said businesses have been forced to rearrange staff rosters, which is unfair on staff and, financially, businesses will lose out on a day’s trading.

‘I’m furious,’ she said, ‘especially after receiving one of the biggest electricity bills I have ever seen in my life!’

The company’s energy costs have trebled, with the latest bill at €10,000, while the previous one was €3,000.

‘We haven’t even started heating the shop yet – that was our summer bill,’ explained the shop owner.

‘That, combined with the fact that we are going to be closing and losing nearly a quarter of our week’s takings, is a real kick in the teeth,’ said Hannah.

A spokesperson for the ESB told The Southern Star that a critical piece of infrastructure had failed and needed to be replaced.

The spokesperson said this Thursday was ‘the next available date’ where the system and resources were available.

‘If an unplanned additional failure were to occur,’ he added, ‘Bantry town and surrounding area may see an outage of up to 48 hrs.’

While the network is switched out, the ESB is also taking the opportunity to complete overhead line works for a housing development.

However, county mayor Cllr Danny Collins said: ‘About eight years ago a similar job was done with minimal disruption – on a Sunday.’

‘For a company that has recorded a profit of €390m,’ Cllr Collins said, ‘I think they should just find the personnel and pay the overtime.’