Trader says day's work is lost over ESB outage

A BUSINESSMAN in the Coronea area of Skibbereen has expressed disappointment with the timing of an ESB power outage in the area last week.

ESB Networks confirmed that a planned outage took place in the Coronea area on Wednesday, November 24th, from 10am-5pm. 

The outage was to facilitate the replacement of a medium-voltage pole in advance of the winter months ahead, a statement said.

During the planned outage, works were also carried out on two medium-voltage switching points that the ESB said would minimise disruption to customers’ electricity supply at a later date.

It added that all affected customers were notified in advance and ESB Networks apologised for any inconvenience caused by what it called the ‘necessary’ works.

However, Bob Clarke of the Signs Studio at Coronea Industrial Estate in Skibbereen, said he was disappointed with the timing of the work, which comes at the busiest time of the year for him, and resulted in him losing an entire day’s production.

Bob told The Southern Star: ‘I contacted the ESB Networks in Wilton and was told that 165 people were affected by the outage. I also contacted my landlord, Cork County Council Development, and the clerk of works told me that he was unaware of the planned outage.’

‘I appreciate that they have to do this work, but the outage meant that I, and five members of my staff, had to take to take a day off as all our works needs an electricity supply.’