Prospect reps make the case for energy resilience at Parliamentary meeting

Prospect reps met with Andrew Pakes MP in Parliament on Wednesday, 16 July to discuss the Heathrow-North Hyde incident and the vital issue of resiliency in the UK energy system.

Prospect has long-standing concerns about the resiliency of the energy system – in terms of infrastructure, as well as workforce issues such as fatigue and skills investment.

However, the critical issue of resiliency hit the headlines in dramatic fashion earlier this year when Heathrow Airport was shutdown following a fire at the North Hyde substation.

A subsequent review by National Energy System Operator found that the root cause was most likely moisture entering equipment and causing an electrical fault – a problem that had been first detected seven years ago. NESO added that ‘mitigating actions appropriate to its severity’ were not taken at the time.

In their meeting with Andrew Pakes MP, the Prospect reps, together with Sue Ferns, Prospect Senior Deputy General Secretary, led a discussion on the need to improve the resilience of our energy and aviation systems.

Among the factors and issues  that members raised in their meeting with Andrew Pakes MP were:

• Networks are increasingly opaque and fragmented;
• Companies are struggling with recruitment and retention;
• ‘Competition’ and ‘markets’ are not working;
• Resilience is lower than ever, with maintenance consistently deprioritised.

Members also shared copies of a Prospect report, National resilience, preparedness and risk: the view from front-line experts, with the MP.

When interviewed by BBC London following the publication of NESO’s final report, Sue Ferns said, “Our members who work in the networks tell us that the focus is on new connections, rather than maintenance because that’s more profitable.”

North Hyde report underlines urgency of ensuring resiliency of infrastructure and the workforce

Incidents like Heathrow outage increasingly likely, warns Prospect