SOME Island Energy customers have complained that they were left without gas for more than a fortnight after an Islandwide outage – with some left with no other option than to have cold showers.
Around 4,000 customers found themselves without mains gas on 7 October following an issue at Island Energy’s plant.
Most Islanders and businesses were reconnected a week later.
A number of customers needed a visit by an engineer – and those who were able to restore their own connection but wanted assistance were able to request an engineer’s help. But several said they had waited more than two weeks for their gas supply to return.
One customer told the JEP that after going without power for a fortnight, her husband got their boiler working himself on Sunday.
She said: “We now have a supply, but if he wasn’t competent we wouldn’t have.
“We have still had no engineer visit and no call [from Island Energy], so they actually do not know it is now functioning.
“The customer service has been appalling. The staff try to be helpful, but all they can do is add your details to the list.”
She added that she understood the outage had initially been out of the gas company’s control, but said that “once they got supply sorted they should have managed it better”.
Another customer said that she was left waiting for 16 days, using facilities at friends’ places and having cold showers.
“Cold showers are good for you, but not every day,” she added. Though an engineer was quick to visit her following the loss of supply, they found that her boiler’s valves needed replacing and told the customer she would hear from them at a later date.
Despite phoning the company every day, she said she made no progress until yesterday, when replacement parts for the boiler were delivered.
A third customer said he had been waiting to be reconnected for 16 days – but was anticipating a visit from an engineer, who was due at his home last night.
The JEP approached Island Energy for comment yesterday.
