Traders hit out at unexpected power cuts

Traders in a County Durham market town have hit out at unexpected power cuts, which have left them "thousands of pounds" out of pocket.

Some 120 businesses and homes on one side of Barnard Castle's Market Place have endured problems, with eight power cuts reported since last summer.

Clare Dixon, who runs Clarendon's Tea Room, said many outages had been happening on the busiest days of the week, causing "major problems".

Northern Powergrid blamed the problem on a faulty underground cable and blown fuses at a local substation.

The firm - which is responsible for delivering electricity in the North East - said it appreciated the "inconvenience power cuts can cause".

“We’d like to thank customers for their patience,” a spokesperson said.

However, businesses have been told they would not receive compensation as power was restored within 12 hours.

According to the regulator Ofgem, if energy users are cut off for 12 hours or more, they can claim £90 as a domestic customer or £175 as a non-domestic customer.

Customers can get a further £40 for each additional 12 hours of being off supply, up to a total of £300.

Emma Rowell, who runs McNabs bookshop and cafe, hit out at the company's communication about the cuts, which she called "shocking".

She said she and other business owners had been advised to claim on their own insurance, something she said was not their responsibility.

Geoff Rider, who has an ice cream business told the BBC he had lost more than £20,000 worth of stock due to it melting.

"It's not our fault," he added.

"Why should we claim on it? If it's our fault I don't mind claiming for it and paying for the insurance that we have claimed on, but eight times? My insurance is not going to come down if I claim eight times on it."

Northern Powergrid said new investments were being made to improve the reliability of the local network.

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