Power supply problems plaguing borough firms

The concerns of Thomas Dudley and other companies in the Dudley borough after power supply problems have led the Black Country Chamber of Commerce to campaign to improve electricity infrastructure.

Chamber chief executive Corin Crane said that energy supply was becoming a big issues for local businesses and would form part of its Making the Future manufacturing campaign over the next 18 months.

He said that many firms had reported problems with power outages and reliability and a reluctance from energy companies to invest in improving infrastructure.

"We will be approaching the Government directly about the problems and the price difference being faced by our businesses and their European competitors.

Martin Dudley, chairman and chief executive of the castings firm in Birmingham New Road, Dudley, said: "The high cost of power in the UK against Europe is a big problem. A lot of countries have subsidised power which is a disadvantage to us in an open market."

He said his company had invested more than £10m in recent years to upgrade its site and foundry including £3m on its just completed new offices at the Birmingham New Road site to which staff had transferred at the end of August.

"We are now finding a constraint on the amount of product that we can produce because we can;t get enough power to the site.

"Our network provider is telling us we are at full capacity and we have to spend £1.4 million to upgrade infrastructure in the local area.

"We don't think we should be both buying electricity and paying for infrastructure to be improved in the local area as well.

"Our customers are asking for us to supply more and if we can't find a solution to that we would have to consider moving the foundry to another site where more power is available."

Mr Dudley said the company was in talks with Western Power Distribution and the chamber was also trying to organise a meeting with the supplier because other local businesses were suffering similar problems.

He added that Thomas Dudley had had to 'throttle back' from producing at full capacity because of having to operate its melting furnace at a slower rate.

Mr Dudley said that with the move to electric cars it was only going to add to the issue of whether networks could cope with demand.

"The whole matter needs to be looked at at a national level to ensure that power infrastructure throughout the country is suitable for the future," added Mr Dudley, who has already raised his concerns with MP Andrew Jones, exchequer secretary to the Treasury at a recent meeting at the University of Wolverhampton.

Western Power Distribution corporate communications officer Michael Clarke said: "We have had a number of discussions with Thomas Dudley over several years which began following their request for an increase in electricity capacity to cater for a new furnace that they were proposing to install.

"At this time, Thomas Dudley had an agreed supply capacity in place which accounted for their requirements. This amount was set as the maximum amount of electricity that they would use based on how much they needed. Our network was built to support this.

"However, when Thomas Dudley asked for an increase in capacity to allow them to install a new furnace, we could only accommodate this by upgrading our equipment so we provided them with an estimate of the cost involved. They did not continue with any further discussions at this time but did go ahead with installing the furnace.

"This new furnace meant that Thomas Dudley exceeded their agreed supply capacity and they were advised to curtail their usage back to the agreed capacity levels.

"Thomas Dudley has since requested budget quotes for several levels of capacity. All of the budget quotes have reflected the work required to provide them with the capacity they have requested. To date, Thomas Dudley has not progressed with a formal quote."

He said Western Power Distribution was are investing £133,000 to replace cable in the local area to improve the reliability of electricity supply as is part of a £4m annual investment to improve the security of supplies for homes and businesses across the Black Country.

Vicki Wilkes, commercial director of Phoenix Materials Testing at the Wallows Industrial Estate, Brierley Hill, said that sub-standard underground cabling to its site had led to serious problems for the business.

The company, which carries out fatigue testing in its test laboratory for customers like Rolls Royce, is being hit by a transformer dropping out.

"It has become an absolute nightmare over the last 18 months,"she said.

Phoenix is urging Western Power Distribution to improve the cabling.

"Some of our tests run 24/7 for days or even weeks and every time we get heavy rainfall we lose one of the phases in our three-phase supply. It trips the hydraulic power supply and the test has to stop," she explained.

Mrs Wilkes said that it was damaging the company's credibility with clients in aerospace, nuclear and automotive sectors to have to say if there was bad weather tests might be halted or delayed.

"We need a reliable power supply. When we bought the unit we paid for a larger power supply to be put in, but the cabling from the sub-station is old and unfit for use now. It needs replacing now.

"All we are asking for is a reliable power supply, but they just don't come back to us.

"We are competing to win important work for the Black Country and the sub-standard cabling is hindering that," she explained.

Mr Clarke said that in realtion to Phoenix Testing, Western Power Distribution would be very keen to speak with the company to establish the problems they are having and to resolve them.

"We do not have any records of Phoenix contacting us about the issues but will be contacting them today to address them," he added.