ESB says all customers to be reconnected this evening

Sorcha Pollak

ESB Networks expects to restore power this evening to all homes and business which had power cut off during Hurricane Darwin nine days ago.

The company said the scale of the damage was the reason it had taken so long to address all the faults.

Extremely difficult ground conditions and fallen trees had caused major obstacles for repair crews, the ESB said.

The company added that while it would have dealt with all faults notified to it by this evening there may still be damaged lines which it is not aware of.

A spokeswoman for ESB warned that “second level faults” at a more local level may not have been identified which could leave isolated customers without power. The ESB has asked customers to report any unidentified faults or situations they consider unsafe to the ESB helpline on 1850372999.

“We hope to have power restored to all our customers but there may be a few that slip over into the weekend,” said a spokeswoman for ESB.

The remaining customers without power are in the south-west.

Last week’s stormy weather cut services to 280,000 homes and businesses or more than 12 per cent of all customers, the majority in the south and south west and ESB crews have been working over the past week to restore services.

The company has brought in 275 additional staff from the UK to help with the repaid work.

Four ESB crew members sustained moderate injuries – requiring them to take at least one day off work – and five sustained minor injuries.

A former Eircom employee and sub-contractor, Michael O’Riordan (65) of Skibbereen in West Cork, was killed on Sunday in an incident while working on a telephone pole in Glengarriff.

The company has reissued a warning to the public to continue to be aware of the danger of fallen wires.

A spokesman reminded customers not to connect a generator to a socket or distribution board as this power could lead down a line and injure ESB repair crews.