Introduction Our infrastructure supplies power to homes and businesses across the north of Scotland, central southern England and at a smaller number of locations across the rest of the United Kingdom where we have ‘National Networks’ embedded within other Distribution Network Operator licence areas. Our networks consist of overhead lines, underground cables and other connected equipment that can be situated both above and below ground. From time to time the development and maintenance work of others (termed ‘clients’ in this document) can come close to, and often cross, this infrastructure. For example, road works to improve road layout or add extra lanes often also involves work to move electricity lines or cables. It’s therefore important we ensure the safety of those carrying out these works and facilitate an efficient system to give advice on working in proximity to our equipment and quotations for moving our equipment and other services to facilitate clients’ projects if required.This Access Statement sets out our policies and processes for:• How clients obtain information about where our infrastructure is located• Single points of contact to discuss working in proximity to our equipment• Keeping clients informed of progress on works• Response time to standard requests• How client disputes will be resolved
Accessing information on our infrastructure Our Asset Data team in Basingstoke offer a service which provides locations of cables and overhead lines in our Network areas. Statutory undertakers & developers We operate an internet based system for clients to get immediate access to our Geographical Information System (GIS) records that show where our infrastructure is located.A login and password can be requested by email to asset.data@sse.com stating your name, company name and telephone number. We aim to provide login details within 3-5 working days of your email being received. Clients are then able to access records and print copies for their use. Smaller projects or single sites GIS records can be requested by email or telephone. When requesting records, we ask at least one piece of the following information is provided to allow us to assist in your query:• Address and Postcode of the site• Grid Reference• Copy of existing plans / mapsWe aim to provide GIS records within 3-5 working days of receiving your request. Both services are available through our Asset Data Team in Basingstoke and can be arranged through our Asset Data Manager as noted below:David GreenAsset Data ManagerTel - 01256 337294Email – asset.data@sse.comFor generic enquiries about cable depths, service locations etc. we provide local contact telephone numbers on every plan that’s printed by clients. Dial Before You Dig is changing We will be moving our Dial Before you Dig service to external provider Line Search Before U Dig (LSBUD) in October 2019. The service is designed to be used by anyone that needs to know where our cables and overhead lines are in order to work safely and to help minimise the risk of disruption to customer supplies. Keep an eye out for further updates and more information on our website as we move towards the implementation of the new service. If you are a registered user, we will contact you in the coming weeks to make you aware of the planned date for transition, and what you need to do in preparation for the change. In the meantime, please continue to use the current Dial Before You Dig process as normal. Communications (Access to Infrastructure) Regulations 2016 Our approach to the Regulations is detailed in PR-ENG-NET-015. Enquiries about using our infrastructure to facilitate the roll-out of telecommunications should be made via email to OperationalTechnology@sse.com.
Regional points of contact for statutory undertakers and large scale developers North of Scotland North Caledonia – Gordon Mennie Tel.- 01224667391 Email - Gordon.Mennie@sse.com Highlands and Islands – Amanda Thomson Tel – 01463728328 Email - Amanda.Thomson@sse.com South Caledonia – Vince Carlton Tel.- 01738 453001 Email - Vince.Carlton@sse.com Central South England Ridgeway – Samantha Boulton Tel.- 07767 850369Email - Samantha.Boulton@sse.com Thames Valley – Andrew Brown Tel-. 07767 850115 Email – Andy.Brown@sse.com Wessex – Dave Dawkins Tel.- 07584011970 Email - Dave.Dawkins@sse.com South East – Paul Towsey Tel-. 07500912995 Email - Paul.Towsey@sse.com
Contact Numbers North of Scotland 0800 300 999 Central Southern England 0800 072 7282 Don't want to call? Send a message Follow us @ssencommunity
Works in vicinity to our equipment Clients carrying out development and maintenance work close to our networks may require services from us to facilitate their works. For example, it may be necessary to move our equipment or temporarily de-energise supply to a particular site. We provide a list of standard requests below, showing whether they are normally dealt with by our Connections and Engineering team, or our General Enquiries team. We are committed to giving our clients a 10/10 service experience. To help with your query we have include timescales for the standard requests we receive. In many cases timescales are agreed with clients on a case by case basis. Where services are chargeable, further details of the basis for charging can be found in our Connection Charging Methodology Statements.If you are a statutory undertaker or large scale developer and wish to discuss any of these services prior to contacting the teams below, or have other questions relating to works near our infrastructure, single named points of contact for each of our regions are provided at the end of this section. Connections and Engineering standard requests Our Connections and Engineering department based in Portsmouth can provide assistance on the standard requests below. They can be contacted by telephone between the hours of 8:00 – 18:00 Monday to Friday or email below. More information can be found on the Connections home page. Tel – 0800 048 3516Email – connections@sse.comMains DiversionIf you need any of our existing overhead lines, underground cables, or electrical equipment diverted as part of your project, you can now apply for a quotation to carry out the diversion works needed here.We aim to provide a Diversions quotation within 65 working days. Once payment has been received we aim to complete these jobs within 12 weeks.Disconnections If a property needs to be demolished, we can disconnect it from the mains network. If you require a disconnection please contact our Connections and Engineering department. More information around disconnections can be found here. We aim to provide a Disconnections quote within 10 working days. Once payment has been received we aim to complete these jobs within 4 weeks General Enquiries standard requests Our General Enquiries team based in Portsmouth can provide assistance for clients on the standard requests below. They can be contacted by telephone on the number below between 08:00-17:00 Monday to Friday. More information can be found on the General Enquiries home page or through the telephone number displayed below.Telephone – 0800 048 3516Email - GE@ssen.co.ukDe-energisationIf you are looking to temporarily de-energise your supply to complete other work we can complete this work. This can only be for a maximum interruption of 72 consecutive hours. This job may be chargeable . We aim to complete these jobs within 12 weeks.ShroudingWhere tree cutting is required or scaffolding is being erected in close proximity to our power lines, we can arrange for shrouding to be placed on the overhead cable. This job is not chargeable. We aim to complete these jobs within 12 weeksOverhead Line AssessmentIf work is being carried out or if tall vehicles are being driven under or near our overhead cables we can attend site and ensure that they are at a correct and safe height for the works. This job may be chargeable. We aim to agree a date for the assessment within 5 days of receiving the request.Substation AccessIf you have equipment inside one of our substations, you can request access. This job is not chargeable. We aim to agree a date for access within 5 days of receiving the request.Temporary IsolationWe can arrange a temporary isolation to allow for works to be carried out safely however we must take into consideration surrounding properties that would be affected. This job may be chargeable. We aim to complete these jobs within 12 weeks.Underground Cable Assessment / Cable TraceIf you are unsure of the location of an underground cable we can arrange to visit site to complete a cable trace to make sure there are no cables within the works vicinity. This job is not chargeable. We aim to complete these jobs within 4 weeks.
Dispute Resolution We believe that the process described above will ensure clients are satisfied with the service they receive and we deliver on our promises about site visits, quotations and progress updates. However, if a client has concerns about any aspect of this process disputes will be resolved by our Contact Centre and Complaints Manager whose details are noted below:Hayley HarbyContact Centre and Complaints Manager Tel – 0800 980 1395Email – customercomplaints@ssen.co.uk More information on our complaints handling process can be found here. Annual report(s) on cross-sector infrastructure interactions We produce an annual report in December reviewing our service and approach to cross-sector interactions with infrastructure businesses and others that must arrange to cross or work near our equipment. Annual Cross-sector Infrastructure Report 2017/18 Cross-Sector Infrastructure Interactions Report 2016/17 Cross-sector infrastructure interactions report 2016
Stakeholder feedbackIf you would like to provide feedback or have any questions regarding our access statement please fill out the form below Feedback Form Name Enter your full name Phone Enter your phone number Email Enter your email address Postcode Enter your postcode Feedback Enter your feedback.