In an industry test case concerning five electrical fires dating back to 2004 and affecting various domestic and commercial properties the Technology and Construction Court of the High Court of Justice has decided in favour of UK Power Networks (as the concerned Distribution Network Operator) that it was not liable to the claimant property owners for the resulting loss and damage.

All five instances involved fires that were traced to cut out fuse assemblies forming the last component of the electrical supply equipment coming into the claimants’ premises for which UK Power Networks was responsible.

In all five cases the Court rejected the claimants’ arguments that the fires could have been prevented by an enhanced regime of routine preventative inspection and maintenance of such cut outs and endorsed that there was in place a good reactive regime to respond to any matters of concern.