By Claire Corrigan
“It was just a normal Saturday afternoon and we noticed that the lights were flickering and then this room lit up like something from outer space and then bang! In every room, we could hear something going bang!”
That’s how Teresa Corbally and other residents of the Sherwood Park housing scheme in Mullingar described the freak and dramatic events they experienced in their homes, when the electrical systems suddenly went haywire, due to a power surge. The area was plunged into darkness as a result of the fault.
This week, there were still residual electrical problems in some of the homes, in addition to the appliances and other items which have to be replaced, residents told us.
The damage to fridge freezers, clothes driers, televisions, Xboxes game consoles, DVDs, dishwashers and a range of other electrical appliances caused consternation for the Mullingar residents in the scheme, but thankfully, despite fears, there were no outbreaks of fire in any homes as what appears to have been a sudden electrical power surge wreaked totally unexpected havoc.
Since the events of last week, the happier side to the Sherwood Park story is that the ESB got in touch with the residents soon after the freak power surge. The lighting was restored. They looked at their damaged appliances and took photographs, and residents say they gave assurances to all the residents affected that their electrical appliances and other losses will be made good.
It has become clear that the electrical fault may have originated in a transformer box on the green in front of their homes, and that the surge caused considerable damage in some homes, but others escaped lightly. Anything that was plugged in seems to have been affected.
The Sherwood Park scheme was plunged into darkness when the faulty pylon connection resulted in the power to all the houses in the estate being cut and a large number of appliances being damaged in the process.
LIGHTS GOING ON
AND OFF
Resident Jackie Harrison was in the house when the lights started flashing. “We were here and it went out. Then the lights started flickering and going on and going off. Eventually it just cut out. It came back on and then cut out again. I had the TV on and the screen went white. The two Xboxes were blown too. My fridge freezer and drier blew also. It went through a lot of appliances.
ESB to replace broken appliances
“The ESB rang us and they took photographs of everything that was damaged and they said they’ll be back on to us within a week. They’re going to replace everything.”
Ms. Harrison said the ESB said that they will pay for everything that was damaged. “They said it was a power surge. We had no street lights. They put them back on about three nights ago but they don’t go off now. They don’t go off during the day.”
On Saturday night, the ESB contacted them and told them to get onto them to tell them what the damage was. “He sent me an email on Sunday saying, ‘send me an email of everything in your house that’s damaged and I’ll work on it for you.’ They’ve been on to me and they want it done fast. He rang me and asked if he could come on Saturday morning and photograph all the items that were damaged in my house. So I showed him everything that wasn’t working.
I’ve had that television for a number of years, and it was nearly €1,000 but it was working.”
Another resident, Teresa Corbally, told Topic: “It was just a normal Saturday afternoon and we noticed the lights were flickering. This room then lit up like something from outer space and then bang!’ In every room we could hear something going bang! The DVD, stereo and Skybox blew and my new dishwater that I’ve only had since November is broken. My daugther’s laptop also blew.
The ESB came out and photographed everything and said that in two weeks’ time, we should be settled up.
“We were thinking afterwards that it was a good thing we were in the house. The trip switch didn’t go off because it was an outside fault. Every bang that came, you were nearly waiting for an explosion of fire to break out. They said it was a power surge.
‘The street lights blew and have been fixed but now they don’t go off for some reason and are on all day. The man from the ESB knew that the pylon on the green was the fault.
“Nobody was hurt, but I think the worst scenario would have been if we hadn’t been in the house, what would have happened?
“I won’t be accepting anything less than a new dishwasher. That was €500 and with the delivery and guarantee, it was over €600.
“He came Saturday morning and we had our list made and he acknowledged it.
“I was expecting to see a burst of flames every time I heard the bangs.”
Another resident, Cammy McLellan, told us: “The only thing for us that seems to be affected is the surround sound. He said that heaters, boilers and fridges had gone in some of the houses. I got a phone call on Monday from the ESB who arrived here on time and the man was very friendly. You couldn’t ask for better. I can’t sing their praises enough.”
Sandra Rozenfelde told Topic that when they came home, they discovered their Xbox, laptop, both TV boxes and charger for a tablet, charger for the Xbox, computer charger and two phone chargers had all blown.
Showing us the damaged items, she said: “We were in town at the time and when we came back, the house was pitch black. I came back and found the TV wasn’t working.”
Ms Rozenfelde said the surge has caused residual problems with the house’s electrics. “It started at 3 o’clock because the timer on the boiler went off at that time.
“The lights are still not working upstairs. The tripswitch has been flashing blue and I am afraid to go near it. I didn’t want to do the wrong thing with it.”
“In fairness, the ESB came around to us, and informed us how long we would be off. They had to bring it back, step by step. They brought in outside contractors. The independent electricians came in and checked out meters and fuseboxes and plugs.”
Broken Transformer the culprit
As she understood it, one of the wires on the transformer box came loose and “took out the whole place. My laptop was damaged and the tablet is gone.”
An ESB spokesperson told Topic on Tuesday of this week: “On 16 January, a broken transformer resulted in electricity voltages deviating outside the normal standard range. This resulted in damage to some householders’ appliances in Sherwood Park, Mullingar. Following thorough safety checks, power was restored to all 39 affected homes that same day. ESB Networks is actively engaging with the residents, as well as an independent assessor.”
