Week of power cuts leave Sheffielders angry at being left ‘in the dark and out of pocket’

People living in the Upperthorpe, Lower Walkley and Langsett areas of S6 lost power several times after a fire at a sub-station in Upperthorpe hit cables connecting it to three others.

Engineers from Northern Powergrid worked for a week to repair the damage and four big portable generators were brought into the area.

The company said that some of the later outages were caused by people tampering with the generators or stealing diesel.

Walkley ward councillor Tom Hunt has been raising issues with the company after residents complained to him.

He said: “I think there’s frustration that people didn’t know what was going on last week.

“There’s still upset and frustration at the way some people had to incur costs related to the power cuts.

“There’s relief that it’s back on but also lingering questions – why did this happen, what was the cause, especially as we head out of the summer months into the winter.

“Last week Northern Powergrid said there’ll be a full investigation but I don’t believe that this happened.”

He said Northern Powergrid told him they will write to everyone who had a power cut of more than 12 hours, explaining what compensation they are entitled to.

‘The biggest frustration was communication’

He also wants them to explain that there is compensation available for multiple power outages in a calendar year.

“People were left in the dark last week and they shouldn’t be out of pocket as a result,” he said.

Cat Wasnidge, who lives on Hawksworth Road, Walkley, said: “A power cut happening and it being a problem I can understand. For me, the biggest frustration was communication.”

Cat said that she got messages saying the power was back on and the problem was fixed, when it clearly wasn’t as the faults took a week to fix.

She said that her in-laws next door and best friend living on the other side of her got very different messages at different times.

“People were getting told one thing and another. It was only when people started to get frustrated they were saying it was a bigger problem, we are on a temporary generator.

“They kept saying, ‘here you go, it’s fixed’, when it clearly isn’t because it’s gone again.”

Cat said she didn’t have much food waste because her shopping was delivered on Monday but many people will have done a big shop on Friday that they couldn’t afford to lose, especially during a cost of living crisis.

“Me and my husband have got good jobs. Lots of people are living in fuel poverty, making horrible decisions.”

‘There was no sympathy’

She is concerned that the length of some power cuts will not automatically trigger compensation but believes that the cumulative effects of multiple power cuts over the course of a week should be taken into account.

She had seven power cuts over eight days.

Cat also suffered disruption of her job because she splits her working hours at Hallam University between home and the office.

On days working at home when a power cut hit she didn’t have enough time to get ready and head into work. “There were three days where I was trying to do things with my phone and tethering to my laptop and the battery goes. It just wasn’t working.”

One woman living on Langsett Road, who wants to remain anonymous, described the stress of multiple power cuts.

She said: “We had no communication whatsoever on the 14-hour power cut. It was very stressful, we lost all our food as 14 hours is too long for food to stay good without power.

“My freezer ended up causing a big leak in my kitchen. We weren’t prepared, so we spent the night in the dark. Some houses on here are three floors, it was a nightmare navigating it in the dark.

“Also a nightmare explaining to your kids that no lights was able to go on, and that you couldn’t cook them food because no power.

‘I don’t have spare cash to just lose food’

“13 hours in I contacted Northern Powergrid for an update and explained my freezer situation. There was no sympathy and said they were not liable for the freezer/fridge food we have lost, and if we had that much of a concern to contact our home insurance.

“As you know, many of us are living on the breadline paycheck to paycheck, I don’t have spare cash for home insurance.

“I don’t have spare cash to just lose food, I’ve had to take out a small loan to replace the food so my children can eat. That small loan has interest.

“It’s something I couldn’t afford to begin with, and something I will feel the effects of later on. After the 14-hour power cut, the power came on. We thought yes finally.

“We then lost power again not long after for four hours. Then we got power on for a few hours, went again. And it’s been on and off since.

“Makes it hard to work, as my income is home based using my WiFi. The first power cut I could explain to work but the numerous ones after it just gets laughable.

“Each time I’ve contacted Northern Powergrid there has been bad communication, with power estimation being hours off. No apologies or understanding.

“They didn’t explain at first that we would have numerous power cuts, until someone in the neighbourhood group on Facebook informed us.”

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