Western Power Fridge magnet

AndyPRK · 10 Nov 2014

Westie will be pleased to hear that I got a fridge magnet today with Western power's phone number (glow in the dark!) so that I can contact them if I have a power cut.

Shame I don't have a metal CU to stick it to!

0800 6783 105

Lectrician · 10 Nov 2014

They have a big advertising drive at the moment, with quite a long Radio Ad too!

westie101 · 10 Nov 2014

My lot are advertising as well, I think it's finally dawned on the DNOs that very few actually know who they are and that they are the ones to ring for power outages.

Rumour is that in the enquiry into the power cuts last Christmas most of the MPs didn't know either (surprise!!) and were mixing up the suppliers and the DNOs

mfarrow · 10 Nov 2014

I'd sooner have that fridge magnet money spent on continuity of supply.

Whilst I sympathise with many customers I do feel that the industry has made its own bed on this one with using the suppliers as the single point of contact and not realising it's not in their interest to answer calls from distraught customer and know exactly what/where to direct them; there's always someone else in the road making the call to the right people!

I also believe WPD have different numbers depending on the area (i.e. Midlands versus EME), unless the OP can confirm?

JohnW2 · 10 Nov 2014

Yep, I received one this morning, too.

Being far too logical for her own good, 'er indoors' greatest interest was in the map on the card which came with the magnet, showing the area covered by WPD. She wanted to know "why is it called Western", since it extends all the way to the North Sea in places

Kind Regards, John

JohnW2 · 10 Nov 2014

mfarrow said:
I also believe WPD have different numbers depending on the area (i.e. Midlands versus EME), unless the OP can confirm?

Maybe. The number on mine (on the very southern edge of the WPD area) is 0800 6783 105 - how about yours?

Kind Regards, John

westie101 · 10 Nov 2014

I do feel that the industry has made its own bed on this one with using the suppliers as the single point of contact

I know you have commented this in the past and it doesn't seem to add up.

From when we became privatised, were bought by a water company and are now independent again our vehicles have always carried the direct contact number to our call centre.
It is always manned and we have the ability to handle large volumes of calls at times of outages.

Certainly we have never suggested that the suppliers be a point of contact and in fact they have no direct lines to us (or us them)
Looking at our daily fault management calls I doubt any more than one or two per day come from suppliers notifying us of faults on our system

Looking at the Energy Networks Website, that is the same as it gives the relevant numbers for the DNOs to report loss of supply and emergencies to.

http://www.energynetworks.org/info/emergencies/power-cuts-telephone-numbers.html

This is the relevant page of this national body, show me please where the supplier's numbers are featured!

Again looking at one of the supplier's websites

https://www.eonenergy.com/for-your-home/help-and-support/Emergencies/Electricity-emergencies

There is a list of all the DNO numbers the same as the ENA site

She wanted to know "why is it called Western", since it extends all the way to the North Sea in places

WPD is originally what was known as SWEB (South Western Electricity Board) after privatisation they have taken over other ex Electricity Boards (EMEB, MEB, SWaEB), kept their areas separate but are overall called WPD

jeepmadmike · 10 Nov 2014

Still waiting for them to ring me and arrange a site meeting over a earthing issue, every time I chase them up I get either an engineer who hasn't got a clue or your call will returned in the next 2 working days

JohnW2 · 10 Nov 2014

westie101 said:
She wanted to know "why is it called Western", since it extends all the way to the North Sea in places

Click to expand...

WPD is originally what was known as SWEB (South Western Electricity Board) after privatisation they have taken over other ex Electricity Boards (EMEB, MEB, SWaEB), kept their areas separate but are overall called WPD

Maybe my geography is getting a bit rusty, but I'm not sure that I would have expected EMEB (which is what we originally were), MEB or 'SWaEB' to extend to the North Sea

Kind Regards, John

mfarrow · 10 Nov 2014

I'm sure the carriers and the ENA are all too keen to give their numbers away but in terms of the customer-fronted supply industry, their markets and regulatory world I was told that the decision was that only suppliers numbers shall appear on the bills. That's not correct then I gather?

I must admit on the outskirts of a city we have touch wood few problems with the occasional failure or switching at midnight when all the house alarms go off, so I've only called WPD twice in the last 4 years.

JohnW2 · 10 Nov 2014

mfarrow said:
... so I've only called WPD twice in the last 4 years.

IIRC, I've only called them (or their predecessors) twice in the past ~30 years, and on both occasions that was because of iffy goings-on with the outdoor bits of my overhead supply!

Kind Regards, John

ban-all-sheds · 10 Nov 2014

JohnW2 said:
She wanted to know "why is it called Western", since it extends all the way to the North Sea in places

That will be the North Sea which extends as far West as Plymouth and Swansea, will it?

EFLImpudence · 11 Nov 2014

The North Sea is to the east of Britain, after all.

AndyPRK · 11 Nov 2014

Having looked at the map I can see what mrs john means.

JohnW2 · 11 Nov 2014

ban-all-sheds said:
JohnW2 said:

She wanted to know "why is it called Western", since it extends all the way to the North Sea in places

Click to expand...

That will be the North Sea which extends as far West as Plymouth and Swansea, will it?

No, it would be the one that extends as far as the Straits of Dover, to the west of which it becomes the English Channel.

Kind Regards, John

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Western Power Fridge magnet

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