Price worth paying

THOSE calling for the standing charge on power bills to be scrapped should be careful what they wish for.

When the electric cable to my house failed, it was discovered that it was too close to the gas main supplying the whole housing estate — a dangerous situation.

This resulted in a fleet of trucks, vans and a JCB on a low-loader turning up with 12 men from the gas, electric and a road gang.

They worked through the night, finishing at 3am, to rectify the fault, dig up my drive, reconnect the cable, refill the trench and resurface it. I asked how much this was going to cost me, only to be told it was covered by the standing charge.

All that was left for me to do was to apologise to my neighbours for the noise and loss of a night’s sleep.

TONY LEVY, Wednesfield, W. Mids.