Incidents like Heathrow outage increasingly likely, warns Prospect

Major energy outages, such as the one that lead to the closure of Heathrow Airport, are increasingly likely to occur again because of the way the energy system is currently run, says Prospect in its submission to NESO’s review of the incident at North Hyde substation.

NESO, the National Energy Systems Operator, is conducting a review into a fire at North Hyde, late into the night on 20 March, causing an outage that led to the closure of Heathrow for most of the subsequent day, 21 March.

Prospect represents thousands of energy members who work, and who have tremendous expertise, in the operation and maintenance of the electricity networks. The submission to NESO, while not specifically addressing the incident at North Hyde, reflects their long-standing concerns about the resiliency of the energy system.

In particular, the lack of investment in three critical areas are highlighted in Prospect’s submission:

• New infrastructure has not been built out. To maximise profit, the companies have preferred to sweat the existing assets they inherited from the pre-privatisation era. This incentive is entrenched by the price-control system—short license periods reduce the incentive to invest in infrastructure whose lifespan outlasts them.
• Old infrastructure has not been effectively maintained. In large part, this appears to be a regulatory issue—network operators are often in favour of maintenance work, but it is often stripped out of business plans by Ofgem in the name of efficiency and reducing costs to end users.
• The workforce has been undervalued and underinvested in. Headcounts have been squeezed in the name of efficiency but demands on the remaining workforce have increased to unreasonable and often dangerous levels. Long hours and fatigue are rife within the sector, and because business-as-usual demands are so overwhelming, there is not enough time left for workers to (a) undertake training opportunities themselves, and (b) help train others. This further holds-down the number of workers who are appropriately trained to maintain and operate the network.

Also included in the submission are results from a recent Prospect survey of its energy members, which provides further evidence of ongoing concerns about energy resiliency.

For example, when asked:

Has your employer taken measures to improve their resilience for major incidents?

• 51% (working in Electricity transmission) and 52% (in Electricity Distribution) answered, “Some measures but not enough”;
• 10% (in Elec Trans) and 24% (Elec Dist) answered, “No Significant measures.”

If your employer is not adequately prepared to respond to major incidents, why do you think this is?

• 25% (in Elec Trans) / 21% (Elec Dist)m said: Inability to expand focus beyond immediate business demands
• 47% (in Elec Trans)  / 51(Elec Dist) said: Insufficient resources to respond flexibly to unpredictable demands

Prospect organised a meeting with a number of reps who work across electricity networks in the aftermath of the North Hyde substation outage. Their discussions raised several issues and questions that it is hoped that NESO will explore further in its review, and when the final report is published.

Among the topics raised by Prospect’s energy reps are:

• Questions on Critical National Infrastrcuture
• Fragmented responsibility
• The need for Back Up Systems?
• Commercial pressures impacting maintenance

Prospect’s full submission to NESO can be downloaded here.