Demand Letter

[Lectrician]

This seems to be legislation that gives them the right:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2665/contents/made

Its sound very much like the OP is getting a bill for conducting emergency repair work as a result of "Damage" caused by his contractor. I think there is an argument that he discovered a faulty installation that is nothing to do with him or his house and made them aware of it. I would have thought the info is in the letter?

You see, IMO, an open ended cable in the ground will arc and spark and cause no end of problems. It won’t just sit there happily for years. Is the OP really sure no damage was caused? Was he there? Did he say EVERYTHING? This invoice should be passed to his contractor to deal with. He employed them, they rang DNO. There responsibility to settle, argue, or pay with their liability insurance. I really can’t see a cut cable in soil not arcing, burning and ultimately blowing fuses.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I fear that none of us have the full picture, including the OP, his contractor and the DNO.

 

[JohnW2]

I fear that none of us have the full picture, including the OP, his contractor and the DNO.

I agree that that may well be the case. However, we can but offer comments on the basis of what we have been told.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I wonder if the OP has paid his groundwork contractor yet?

 

[motorbiking]

If it was correctly placed with the right tape and depth, I think they might be liable.

 

[Adam_151]

You see, IMO, an open ended cable in the ground will arc and spark and cause no end of problems. It won’t just sit there happily for years. Is the OP really sure no damage was caused? Was he there? Did he say EVERYTHING? This invoice should be passed to his contractor to deal with. He employed them, they rang DNO. There responsibility to settle, argue, or pay with their liability insurance. I really can’t see a cut cable in soil not arcing, burning and ultimately blowing fuses.

While I am tended towards this viewpoint, I suppose a small concentric thats only protected by the fuses feeding the main feeder, if it was severed in dry conditions years ago (when the pub was demo'd) , there would probably have been a bit of a flash to the digger bucket, it may have then been hastilily covered up before anyone got the blame, when the ground got wet, yes it would have fizzled and crackled a bit, but would anyone really have noticed? If somehow it did manage to short then the conductors would have probably just burnt back from the fault into the insulation a bit rather than taking up the fuse on the main feeder.

To quote a popular TV program its probably "plausable but unlikely"

 

[ban-all-sheds]

yes it would have fizzled and crackled a bit, but would anyone really have noticed?

They might have done in winter.

 

[JohnW2]

... when the ground got wet, yes it would have fizzled and crackled a bit, but would anyone really have noticed? If somehow it did manage to short then the conductors would have probably just burnt back from the fault into the insulation a bit rather than taking up the fuse on the main feeder.

I think we have a tendency to over-estimate the conductivity of even very dirty water. It takes so relatively little to harm a human being, that it's often important, but I seriously doubt that you'd ever get enough current through water (let alone 'a bit wet') to melt any copper/aluminium conductor. However ...

To quote a popular TV program its probably "plausable but unlikely"

I'm inclined to agree.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Sid1968]

Hi everyone

Iv had a reply email

Dear Sirs,


Thank you for your email


I have investigated the points that you have raised and can provide the following information in response:


I can confirm the cable that was damaged was part of a looped connection between No. 1 Bank Street, and No. 3 Bank Street. There is no bottle end that would be required for this cable.


In relation to the hours charged, our representatives used two straight joints and 3 metres of cable to repair the damaged that was caused whilst works were being carried out on No. 1 Bank Street for fencing.


Regarding the number of staff attending on site due to the nature of your supply of electricity ENW dispatched the most appropriate team to complete the repair to our damaged cable in the most appropriate manner and within safety guidelines. There will be times where you may not see them on site. For instance there are safety checks that need to be carried out at the substation from where the supply is fed from. These checks have to be done once the jointed has been completed therefore there may be times that in the duration of the repairs they may not be directly on site but will still be working on our network in connection with the damage. Therefore the hours claimed on their timesheet still stand.


ENWL did incur unnecessary costs due to the damage caused, and request that payment is met in full.


Regards


Asset Damage Enquiries Team


Any opinions???

 

[John D v2.0]

Did number 3 lose their supply at that time of the damage? (Not of the repairs)

Ask them for proof, they will have taken photos before and after the repair and have them logged on their system. They can't charge you without evidence, for all you know it is someone else's house they're mixing up (maybe the next job they did that day)

Possibly more likely is when the street lamp was removed the cable around the was in a mess already, so they just cut the whole section out while they were there, and decided to change that section. Maybe it was damaged by whoever did the previous driveway?

 

[Sid1968]

Hi John

No Supply was lost to no3 or no1

 

[John D v2.0]

Sounds like you need to request the photos in that case. Maybe they made a mistake.

 

[Doggit]

Now they say that the damage was done whilst they were working on the fencing on No 1 (your property I assume), yet your contractor was digging the garden, so that implies that their cable was on your property.

They seem to be implying that you've done work to the fence, and that's encroached onto the cable under the paving, yet if the cable was on your land, then there seems to be a discrepancy on not only what was damaged, but where it was as well. Now was an work done on the fence by your contractor.

Almost sounds as though the workers forgot about the job, and haven't "remembered" what they did properly, as it's a bit odd that they took two months to raise the invoice.

You might need to get them to check the location of the cable to prove your version.

 

[Sid1968]

I had my garden concreted. Before any work was carried ie contractor work there was a rough patch of land about 30m2 this is wher the cable was. The open end was buried in the ground but some of the cable sticking out of the ground.
It was described to the distributor as it was. No payment or charges was mentioned or explained

 

[John D v2.0]

In that case also request copies of the phone calls made and any notes taken by them about it at that time.
If they're reluctant you might have to do a request under the data protection act (subject access request I think it's called) asking for all the information about the calls including recordings. You might have to pay a few pounds for that though.