7. We will continue touse customer feedbackto develop customercommitments that mean themost to our customersWe are committed to listening andresponding to stakeholder feedbackin the run up to the submission ofour final RP7 business plan to theUtility Regulator in March 2023 andbeyond. We will use the responses tothis consultation to help us shape ourfuture plans.8. We will deliver onsolutions for customersaffected by bird foulingproblems recognisingthat this issue causessignificant distress to thesecustomersOverhead lines continue to represent asignificant proportion of the electricitynetwork in Northern Ireland due bothto the rural nature of large parts of theprovince and the fact that overheadlines continue to be a more costeffective solution for the transmissionand distribution of electricity thanalternative undergrounding solutions.Given the widespread nature of thenetwork, it is inevitable that overheadlines will over-sail land that is now usedfor domestic properties.In some areas overhead lines are usedby birds as structures for roosting,often in significant numbers. For someof our customers this leads to birdfouling issues with damage caused tocars, housing paintwork and in extremecases, children unable to play in theirgardens due to significant bird foulingon them and their toys. The inabilityto enjoy their home and garden has asevere emotional toll on some of ourcustomers. We currently have over700 reported instances of bird fouling.Listen to it first hand from some ofour customers: Bird Fouling 1 BirdFouling 2Historically the only potential solutionshave been to divert the overhead line orunderground it at a significant cost. Todate our price control allowances have46Northern Ireland Electricty Networksnot allowed for these costs and dueto their significant nature, it is usuallynot viable for the connected customerto pay for the solution. However, weare currently trialling a new innovativedevice aimed at deterring birds fromroosting on overhead lines and theresults to date indicate that this deviceis successful in most cases. Our plancurrently includes an estimate of £5mto fit this device in areas currentlyexperiencing bird fouling issues.This represents an average cost of20 pence annually to a domesticcustomer across the RP7 period. Forour commercial customers, this wouldrepresent an annual cost range from 78pence for a small business up to £12for a medium business.This innovative solution is an order ofmagnitude cheaper than the alternativeline diversion or undergrounding,however, in a small number of casesits installation may not be possibleand a line diversion or undergroundingis the only alternative option. We willwork with the Utility Regulator to agreean uncertainty mechanism to addressthese scenarios.Q20. Do you think that we shouldbe fitting this new innovativetechnology on areas knownfor bird fouling issues? As acustomer, would you be happythat the costs to resolve birdfouling issues are spread acrossour customer base and ultimatelyreflected in your bill?
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