Tuesday 18 August 2020, 13:13
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THE HAGUE –
‘It was an exceptional situation, such a long power outage,’ explains a Stedin spokesperson. One day after large parts of The Hague had been without power for eight hours, the investigation into the cause of the blackout is still in full swing. The power outage affected 37,000 customers on the west side of the city.
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It is a little after 11 a.m. on Monday morning when suddenly large parts of the royal city the power goes out. Work is being carried out at Stedin’s power distribution station at De Constant Rebecqueplein, and this is going on ‘something ‘wrong. There is a short circuit.
“We are still investigating what exactly happened,” the spokesperson explains. ‘But you have to imagine that the power distribution station, just like at home, has an earth leakage circuit breaker. This is only mega-sized and also shuts off in the event of a short circuit. The short circuit released a flame and the room was full of smoke. ‘
25.000 volt spanning
The repair took longer than expected because the grid operator wanted to be sure that everything was safe again. ‘A station like this has 25,000 volts. You want to make sure there are no accidents. ‘ Now that the power is back on, work at the power distribution station has been halted until the cause of the short circuit is clear. “We can now guarantee the power,” the spokesperson reassures when asked.
It is the third time in a short time that parts of The Hague have been affected by a power outage. According to the spokesman, there is no connection between the various failures. ‘Four weeks ago there was also a power outage in the Statenkwartier and Scheveningen, due to a short circuit in the distribution station on the Vijzelstraat. And the power outage where Scheveningen at the end of June was bothered by a broken cable on the boulevard. ‘
Money in compensation
Yesterday’s power outage was an exceptional situation, a rare long outage. Victims also receive money in compensation. In any case, for private individuals who have been without electricity for at least four hours, that is an amount of 35 euros. ‘ For every four hours extra, 20 euros is added.
“But that is not certain for everyone,” explains the spokesman. ‘Because we have switched back the electricity, some people have been without electricity for less than those extra four hours. We can see exactly who has had no power for how long. ‘ And everyone will receive a letter about this. The damage for Stedin will in any case exceed one million euros. ‘
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