Telford's electricity network gets £2.5m upgrade

Telford's electricity network will undergo a £2.5 million overhaul in a bid to ensure its reliability, it was revealed today.

Western Power Distribution is investing the cash after taking over responsibility for power across the West Midlands in April 2011. The work will include the 27km of cables being laid in the town to carry 33,000 volts of power between Ketley and Snedshill.

Company bosses also said they would lay telecom ducts,which are tubes buried in the ground for telecom cables to be laid, at the same time to minimise further disruption to the area.

The project is due to start in July, with completion expected by December.

Kester Jones, Western Power Distribution's Telford distribution manager, said the company hoped the project would ensure the town got a consistent service. "Our aim is to invest to maintain the reliability of electricity supplies for years to come," said Mr Jones.

"We are committed to providing a consistently high level of service to customers and will have spent over £2 billion on our network between 2010 and 2015.

"While this work is being undertaken, our aim is to keep any disruption to an absolute minimum.

"We have been speaking with Telford & Wrekin Council to agree on the cable route which creates the least disruption for traffic flow in the area."

Mr Jones added plans were also being put in place to ensure residents were not severely disrupted. "Our intention is also to work on major junctions during off peak times and to keep customers who live along the route informed by letter.

"We have also been speaking with local bus companies about our plans," he added.

WPD is the distribution network operator responsible for delivering electricity to approximately 7.7 million customers.

The company is not an electricity supply company and does not bill customers in the UK but is responsible for distributing electricity from the point of generation to homes and businesses.