Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) completed one of its biggest ever one-day projects earlier this week, as over 100 staff carried out essential maintenance work and tree cutting near Haslemere on Tuesday.
Teams worked on 13 separate sites throughout the day, clearing trees and vegetation away from overhead power-lines, installing new equipment and ensuring the network is in the optimum condition ahead of any potential storms and bad weather this winter. Seven sections of overhead lines were brought down to give the tree cutting teams unhindered access with their wide range of specialist equipment, and then put back up again once the work was completed.
To allow the teams to work in safety, power to around 60 properties was temporarily turned off between 09:00 and 16:00, with all of the affected customers receiving a hand-delivered letter informing them of the worka week in advance. As well as this letter, customers on SSEN's Priority Service Register were also contacted by the company's Customer and Community Advisors to check if there was any extra help or support we could offer when the power was off.
Tim Clay, SSEN's Tree Cutting Manager in charge of operations for the £150,000 project, said: "We'd like to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we carried out this essential work. We want to do everything we can to minimise the risk of powercuts, and the work we've done today will go a long way to helping us achieve our goal of delivering the best customer service possible."
If you think that you, or anyone else you know, may be eligible for extra help and support on the rare occasions the power is off, please visit www.ssen.co.uk/PriorityServices.