Scheduling work

Keeping Northern Ireland's electricity network running is a 24/7 business. Our maintenance programmes run summer and winter. However, we try to schedule planned interruptions to cause least inconvenience to our customers.

We do this by:

• Changing the network prior to planned work to ensure the outage affects the minimum number of customers
• Where possible, we fit a generator at the local substation. We do not fit generators in individual homes or businesses.
• Our lines teams use techniques to work on the network when it is still live. Find out more on how our live line teams work

When we are unable to use these options, we have to schedule planned interruptions and notify customers that their electricity will be off for a short period.

The majority of planned interruptions affect domestic customers and are carried out during daytime working hours. However,  in some circumstances we may have to work outside normal working hours and at weekends to complete our programme of work. Where possible, we will shorten planned interruptions, restoring electricity supplies earlier.

Cancelling work

On occasion, we may need to postpone planned work due to weather conditions, staff diverted to repair emergency faults, non access to land or operational and safety issues.