Western Power Fridge magnet

[JohnW2]

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

I'm not sure whether you are agreeing or disagreeing with her! To be fair, I can't remember for sure whether it was her who mentioned the North Sea - her question, in concept, was why a DNO should be called "Western" when it extended all the way to the eastern coast of England. It may be me who phrased it in terms of the North Sea.

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

As I said, she is known for being logical

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

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.

That will be the North Sea which extends as far West as the longitude of Plymouth & Swansea will it?

 

[Taylortwocities]

Probably named by the Spanish!

 

[Tejada]

Lovely to receive this fridge magnet this morning with a telephone number to call should we lose power...if like me, your landline doesn't work during loss of power, then you have to call from a mobile, which could cost...you can find the number to call from a mobile...just check their website, but do this now, because, if like me, your internet doesn't work during a power cut, you can't find this out at the time!!! So, if you don't have a mobile or a home PC and don't have a hard wired home phone, sending out the number to call on a diddy little fridge magnet is a TOTAL waste of time, and will not help those most vulnerable...just a thought?

 

[JohnW2]

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.

That will be the North Sea which extends as far West as the longitude of Plymouth & Swansea will it?

How pedantic/pathetic I know you love to 'be clever' (if that is a correct phrase in this context), but you know exactly what I meant - that the WPD area extends as far as the east cost of England, where it meets the North Sea. I was not thinking/talking about what happens around the north coast of Scotland, which is hundreds of miles from the WPD patch!

Kind Regards, John

 

[westie101]

if like me, your landline doesn't work during loss of power, then you have to call from a mobile,

Or does that go to not planning yourself for when things go wrong and ensuring you have at least one phone in the house that works when the mains supply is lost?
The phone being powered by the 100V available from the BT network.
(you can buy one from Argos for as little as £5.99)

As for mobile phones they are of limited range and often during bad weather/power cuts, the network can be very busy, further to that the base stations are not usually equipped with generator back up, but with a battery & UPS system that often only lasts a few ghours, after which the mobile phone network fails.
BT exchanges BTW are all equipped with generators.

And of course you have to keep a mobile charged up which may require a mains supply, some could charge one in their car if they have a car that is and the equipment in it to charge the phone.

BTW most of the DNO's use a system that picks up an approximate location from the BT STD code the call s made from and can often accept a report without you having to talk to a call handler, this speeds up the response if there are widespread problems.
This option is often not available with mobile phones as systems cannot read the GPS data (if the phone is equipped) or it may be in a deifferent location to that of the outage

 

[Tejada]

All good points and I'm sure that people may think of them beforehand...then again, many won't. I would have much rather seen a checklist on the card I received this morning, stating the information you gave, than a map of the energy company's coverage...gimmicks don't generally help people in times of need...

 

[ban-all-sheds]

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.

How pathetic/pedantic. You know exactly what I meant - the North Sea does go as far west as Plymouth and Swansea do.

 

[JohnW2]

Apologies for delay - a power cut delayed my posting of this!

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. How pathetic/pedantic. You know exactly what I meant - the North Sea does go as far west as Plymouth and Swansea do.

Sigh (and seemingly some pretty sloppy quoting/formatting). As you know full well, I was not talking about how far west the North Sea goes (to the north of Scotland) but, rather, how far east the WPD area goes.

Have you really got nothing better to do with your time than this?

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Sigh (and seemingly some pretty sloppy quoting/formatting).

No there isn't.

Not in my post anyway.

As you know full well, I was not talking about how far west the North Sea goes (to the north of Scotland)

As you know full well, I was.

Have you really got nothing better to do with your time than this?

 

[JohnW2]

Sigh (and seemingly some pretty sloppy quoting/formatting).

No there isn't. Not in my post anyway.

No, not any more. I composed my post (including the quote of yours) prior to the power cut, but could not post it until power was restored (router is mains-powered - I'm not sure why I don't have it running off one of my UPSs - must attend to that!). During that period, you either corrected your post or else it corrected itself!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Screech20]

Wonder how long until UKPN follow suit on this one....

 

[JohnW2]

Wonder how long until UKPN follow suit on this one....

My understanding is that all the DNOs are trying to publicise their 'emergency numbers', so that consumers don't have to go through the 'single point of contact' (i.e. their suppliers) to get to them. Whether they will all distribute fridge magnets and maps of their areas is another matter!

Kind Regards, John

 

[bernardgreen]

The phone being powered by the 100V available from the BT network.

Not 100 volt but a nominal 48 volt but may be 50 volt DC, ringing current is 75 volts AC.

but with a battery & UPS system that often only lasts a few ghours, after which the mobile phone network fails.

The mobile networks are indeed fragile when exceptional conditions occur.

BT exchanges BTW are all equipped with generators.

In the old days they used very large lead acid batteries which gave a few days normal service without the need for a re-charge. If things looked like getting critically near to end of battery then non-essential lines and services would be "jacked out" ( de-powered ) to prolong service for essential services.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

During that period, you either corrected your post or else it corrected itself!

You were quick - I posted, saw that I'd b******d up the quoting, and edited it straight away.