Network firm roasted for Xmas Day blackout

CHRISTMAS Day celebrations were ruined for hundreds of families in Gwynedd after power was lost for several hours.

Festive merriment and dinner preparations were plunged into darkness for as many as 400 families in the villages of Tregarth and Glasinfryn, near Bangor, between around 1pm and 4.30pm.

Anger has since been expressed that SP Energy Networks, which manages the power lines in North Wales, kept people in the dark about the cause, and only offered residents a £50 food token. The firm have apologised.

Tregarth resident Ron Edwards, who had a house filled with nine family members at the time, said: “It was candles all afternoon for us and SP Energy offered the nine of us a £50 voucher to go for a meal.

“That wouldn’t have got us anywhere and when the power came back on a lot was ruined and we had to start again.

“We managed to salvage dinner but a lot of things were left in pots of water and had to be redone.”

Mr Edwards, who said his home was without power until 5.30pm, said he was not pleased with the way the incident was handled by SP Energy Networks.

He said: “I complained about the way they handled it because I didn’t think they were giving out enough information. They were supposed to keep us updated but they never got back to us. They have still not got back to me.”

Mr Edwards said the dinner had been cooking for around half an hour before they were plunged into darkness - with food not able to be served until around 7pm.

He said: “Some of it was ruined and we had to start again but the meat was OK.

“Everybody was ringing their neighbours seeing if they could help and they were saying they were off as well.”

An SP Energy Networks spokesman said between 300 to 400 customers were affected.

The spokesman said power was intermittent between 1.30pm and 2.30pm, before cutting out at 2.30pm.

He added that the first homes were back on around 15 minutes later, with the last of the homes being returned to the network at around 4.30pm.

The cut was blamed on a fault in the overhead network.

The spokesman added: “We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused.”