When appliances are destroyed after power surges or outages, 85 per cent of the time this is not the fault of T&TEC. So said Rene Austin, assistant general manager of distribution, at yesterday’s Public Accounts Committee meeting in Parliament. The concern was raised by Independent senator Corinne Baptiste-McKnight, who asked what was T&TEC’s specific policy in terms of reimbursement with regard to power outages and surges.
The commission’s general manager Kelvin Ramsook said according to Section 49 of the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) Act, which directs the commission to deal with damaged appliances, once there was negligence on the part of T&TEC, there must be compensation to the customer. T&TEC had a month to respond once a complaint was lodged and if there was compensation to be given, that must be done within 15 days.
The committee’s chairman, Colm Imbert, MP for Diego Martin North, asked what was meant by “negligence.” Ramsook said this was where employees were falling short of standards which ultimately affected the customer. In seeking more answers, Imbert said: “The problem I face is that when there is a power outage and the power is restored, there is...a surge, the voltage is not what it supposed to be and it burns all the equipment out. Is that negligence?”
Austin said this was not negligence, and that T&TEC was mandated to supply customers with a certain amount of voltage. If that requirement was not met, then that was considered negligence. Baptiste-McKnight questioned whether it was right, if appliances or air-conditioning units were damaged, for this to be deemed “collateral damage” because of a power surge or outage.
“When two or three air-conditioning units go in the space of a couple of months, you think it is right to tell the listening public they must absorb because it must happen when you have an outage once a month? Come on,” Baptiste-McKnight said. Ramsook, in defending T&TEC, said power outages and surges occurred throughout the world.
“Generally when we do our analysis we pick up a number of items that contribute to damage appliances. Some of the items would be customers with extension cords from one building to another, the customer premises, in terms of wiring overloading of particular circuits,” Ramsook added. Asked if as a matter of routine, the customer was always informed of the problem at their household, Ramsook said there were procedures, but could not say if this was done in every instance.