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16th November 2006

Explanation Sought for North East Power Cuts

Today Stewart Whyte, Conservative candidate for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine revealed that he has asked Scottish Hydro Electric to investigate a series of mysterious power cuts at Banchory. Mr Whyte was contacted by a local resident from Upper Lochton who had suffered four power failures in four weeks, one of them for 18 hours. The constituent explained that her neighbours had also been affected.

 Mr Whyte said: "I was quite shocked to hear about this, I had thought power cuts were a thing of the past. The resident brushed off the first few instances as one of those things, however she feels increasingly exasperated and inconvenienced and asked me if I could look into it."

The local resident had phoned the helpline only to get a recorded message blaming the weather: "This is not good enough. People deserve a fully answer and I have called for the problem to be investigated."

Mr Whyte has written to Scottish Hydro Electric asking them to provide an explanation and an assurance that the cuts won't be recurring. He also asked that affected customers see their bills reduced in compensation.