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Power bosses invest

14th December 2013

Southern Electric Power Distribution (SEPD) is investing £12.6 million in improving the electricity delivery system around Newbury, Reading and West Berkshire. The investment is to ensure that the system is as robust as possible to stand up to extreme weather and that those who rely most on electricity can get the power back on quickly if there is an outage.

As well as lessening the chance of power outages, SEPD have also put plans in place to help those who are elderly or disabled get their power back on as a matter of urgency, especially those who rely on stairlift solutions to maintain their independence around the home. By registering with the SEPD’s priority services team, those who need to use devices that rely on electricity for health and mobility reasons will have a dedicated phone number to call, priority updates during a power cut and will know that their nominated person will have been contacted about the power outage by SEPD.

As part of the improvements, 80km of new overhead electricity line and 1,500 new poles have been put up, £6 million has been invested in automating substations so that power sources can easily be switched in the event of a power cut, and two 4x4 vehicles have been purchased so that engineers can get to places that are hard to access more quickly.

This £12.6 million investment is part of a £90 million upgrade across all of central southern England, which means that those who live outside of the Reading area and who rely on their supportive rise and recline chair, ventilator or other health or mobility device will also benefit from improved service. Power distributors across the country have priority service teams that those who are elderly or disabled can register with and it is highly recommended to do so with cold winter weather fast approaching.

Source: Power bosses spend £13 million to keep the lights on this winter

Image Credit: Naufal MQ (Shutterstock)

This news article is from Handicare UK. Articles that appear on this website are for information purposes only.