RP7 Stakeholder Consultation WEB - Flipbook - Page 46
7. We will continue to
use customer feedback
to develop customer
commitments that mean the
most to our customers
We are committed to listening and
responding to stakeholder feedback
in the run up to the submission of
our final RP7 business plan to the
Utility Regulator in March 2023 and
beyond. We will use the responses to
this consultation to help us shape our
future plans.
8. We will deliver on
solutions for customers
affected by bird fouling
problems recognising
that this issue causes
significant distress to these
customers
Overhead lines continue to represent a
significant proportion of the electricity
network in Northern Ireland due both
to the rural nature of large parts of the
province and the fact that overhead
lines continue to be a more costeffective solution for the transmission
and distribution of electricity than
alternative undergrounding solutions.
Given the widespread nature of the
network, it is inevitable that overhead
lines will over-sail land that is now used
for domestic properties.
In some areas overhead lines are used
by birds as structures for roosting,
often in significant numbers. For some
of our customers this leads to bird
fouling issues with damage caused to
cars, housing paintwork and in extreme
cases, children unable to play in their
gardens due to significant bird fouling
on them and their toys. The inability
to enjoy their home and garden has a
severe emotional toll on some of our
customers. We currently have over
700 reported instances of bird fouling.
Listen to it first hand from some of
our customers: Bird Fouling 1 Bird
Fouling 2
Historically the only potential solutions
have been to divert the overhead line or
underground it at a significant cost. To
date our price control allowances have
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Northern Ireland Electricty Networks
not allowed for these costs and due
to their significant nature, it is usually
not viable for the connected customer
to pay for the solution. However, we
are currently trialling a new innovative
device aimed at deterring birds from
roosting on overhead lines and the
results to date indicate that this device
is successful in most cases. Our plan
currently includes an estimate of £5m
to fit this device in areas currently
experiencing bird fouling issues.
This represents an average cost of
20 pence annually to a domestic
customer across the RP7 period. For
our commercial customers, this would
represent an annual cost range from 78
pence for a small business up to £12
for a medium business.
This innovative solution is an order of
magnitude cheaper than the alternative
line diversion or undergrounding,
however, in a small number of cases
its installation may not be possible
and a line diversion or undergrounding
is the only alternative option. We will
work with the Utility Regulator to agree
an uncertainty mechanism to address
these scenarios.
Q20. Do you think that we should
be fitting this new innovative
technology on areas known
for bird fouling issues? As a
customer, would you be happy
that the costs to resolve bird
fouling issues are spread across
our customer base and ultimately
reflected in your bill?
