§ Mr. Galeasked the Secretary of State for Energy what information he has as to the reasons for the failure of the supply of electricity to the Isle of Thanet from 14.15 on Friday 16 January to 02.00 on Saturday 17 January; and what steps are to be taken to ensure that a recurrence of this failure is rendered impossible in the future.
§ Mr. GoodladThe Electricity Council has informed me that the failure of supply of electricity to the Isle of Thanet was due to the loss of both circuits of the 132 kV line from Richborough. The failure was caused by an exceptional combination of freezing fog and salt on the insulators which led to arcing and the breakage of one insulator string and damage to conductors. Electricity board linesmen worked into the night in most difficult and dangerous conditions to restore supplies.
The industry is carrying out an investigation and will consider what steps should be taken to reduce the risk of a recurrence.