Winter readiness campaign launched

Main utility companies in the North of Ireland have joined forces to launch a winter readiness campaign to assist the public in their preparations for winter.
BT, Northern Ireland Electricity Networks, NI Water and Phoenix Natural Gas have been working together to identify ways in which they could provide support and aid during periods of severe weather.
The companies have issued a ‘cut out and keep’ list of useful contact details should utility services be disrupted due to severe weather.
Mairead Meyer, Chair of the Joint Utilities Working Group has welcomed this collaborative work, she says, ‘The combined breadth of expertise between our companies enables us to share knowledge and resources to further improve the vital services we deliver to the whole community, often in very severe weather conditions’.
“Although all of our companies require specialist skills to repair our networks, there are a number of areas we can share resources such as people, equipment, transportation vehicles and access to buildings.”
Experts believe that extreme weather across the UK and Ireland is becoming more commonplace and co-operation by utility companies and other agencies will greatly benefit any response to an emergency situation.