Thousands of households are still without power after storm Johannes – even though it’s illegal.
Now the Energy Market Inspectorate is criticizing the electricity grid companies.
– The electricity law is crystal clear, says head of department Tommy Johansson to SVT.
At the same time, some customers are offered hotels.
It was last Saturday that the storm Johannes hit Sweden. Hurricane villages were measured at several measuring stations, tens of thousands of households were left without power and so many trees fell on the roads that the Swedish Transport Administration urged road users not to venture out.
Afterwards, it has been described as a picking stick in the forests and over the power lines. And several days after the storm hit with full force, thousands of households are still without power.
Among other things, the Camuset Naranjo family outside Sandviken – who have not had electricity for four days.
Illegal power outages
However, it is illegal.
According to the so-called functional requirements of the Electricity Act, the electricity network companies must normally ensure that an interruption does not last longer than 24 hours.
That’s what the law says
According to the functional requirements of the Electricity Act, the electricity grid company must ensure that interruptions in the transmission of electricity to an electricity user never exceed 24 hours. But if the electricity network company can show that the interruption was due to an obstacle that lies outside the company’s control responsibility, there are exceptions.
Source: The Energy Market Inspectorate
– The network companies are breaking the law and not fulfilling their obligations, says Tommy Johansson at the Energy Market Inspection to SVT.
He believes that the law is “crystal clear”.
– The network companies need to get better at clearing wiring streets.
According to SVT, every year there are thousands of outages that last longer than a day. Last year there were 6,450 affected electricity customers, and the year before that 3,800.
In 2019, there were over 53,000 customers.
Thousands of customers affected
This year, only 11,000 Ellevio customers have had power outages of 24 hours or more after storm Johannes, the company told SVT. On its website, the company writes that it is now “working intensively on troubleshooting and has strengthened preparedness”.
Vattenfall also writes on its website that it has reinforced resources in parts of the country and is “working intensively to locate the faults and restore the power”. Among other things, trees are blown up so that wires can be freed.
Eon states that they are “working intensively” but that the damage is extensive. Customers who have not had power restored by 10 a.m. on New Year’s Eve are being offered hotels.
