News Releases

Western Power Distribution (WPD) is investing £5.5 million on its electricity network in Gloucester to safeguard supply reliability.

WPD became the electricity distribution business responsible for the Midlands in April 2011, and this new initiative involves it laying 10km of 33,000 volt cable between Brockworth and Castle Meads.

The company is also in discussion with Kingston Telecommunications, to determine whether telecom ducts can be laid at the same time, to minimise further disruption to the area.  

The project is due to start in October, with completion expected by April 2013.

“Our aim is to invest to maintain the reliability of electricity supplies for years to come,” said Lawrence Wall, WPD’s Gloucester Projects Distribution Manager.

“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 Gloucestershire Highways and the Highways Agency to agree on the cable route which creates the least disruption for traffic flow in the area.

“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.”

Note for newsdesks:
• Western Power Distribution (WPD) is the distribution network operator for the Midlands, South West England and South Wales, and is responsible for delivering electricity to approximately 7.7 million customers in the UK.

• WPD is not an electricity supply company and does not bill customers in the UK. Its responsibility is to distribute electricity from the point of generation to homes and businesses.