Power outage: construction work is often to blame

In 2015, 108 power outages occurred in the city of Zurich, which, according to EWZ corresponds to the average of the last few years. Almost half of the failures were caused by damage from third parties, while the other half were due to various causes such as material aging and defects.

EWZ wants to sue construction companies in the future

According to EWZ, the most frequent cause of supply interruptions is unintentional cable damage during work by third-party companies. On average, therefore, the power fails once a week in the city of Zurich. Construction companies often fail to consult the plans for electrical lines as required - and they are then damaged during excavation work. This can have fatal consequences for construction workers, such as a fatal electric shock. Other consequences include property damage, which is charged to the construction companies responsible, and the reduced value of the repaired equipment.

In the future, EWZ will try even harder to make construction companies aware of the dangers and costs caused by damage to electrical lines. In addition, the energy service provider writes that it will file criminal charges against those responsible if negligence leads to massive damage.

Comparison Switzerland

Compared with the rest of Switzerland, EWZ has a good quality of power supply. On average (2011 to 2015), electricity consumers in the city of Zurich had to reckon with an interruption of 10 minutes per year due to faults. Swiss average for unplanned disruptions is 16 minutes. The above-average number of power outages in the city of Zurich due to external causes is striking. This was probably due to the high level of construction activity. The EWZ supply network in Graubünden had other main causes: More than half of the total of 18 power outages were caused by natural events such as fallen trees and birds in overhead lines.