Dear Editor,
We moved to our house in Portugal in 2004. At the time we noted that the street lamp outside the house was damaged near the base but it still worked.
In 2005 its operation became intermittent, often requiring a ‘good kick’ to get it working again. In 2006 all functionality ceased and we reported the problem to Olhão council.
In 2007 EDP arrived and isolated it from the electricity supply. In 2008 nothing happened in the vicinity of the lamp.
In 2009 the lamp had lots of visits from EDP but it still did not work.
Earlier this year Olhelectrico turned up and excavated a trench between our favourite lamp post and the one in the road opposite.
Even now one end of the trench remains open surrounded by barriers (a Portuguese first?) with a pile of material at its side accompanied by a length of cable and a length of plastic ducting.
At the other end there is a short roll of cable protected by a further barrier. The footpath is blocked by these barriers in two locations. The men carrying out the work dumped the excess excavated material onto the adjacent building plot.
I have written to Olhoelectrico three times and Olhão Council once. Needless to say, I have not had the courtesy of a reply from either party although a couple of guys turned up the other day and looked at the cable.
You can imagine how much electricity has been saved in the years since the light stopped working. Is there anything else I can do to gain their attention?
Geoff Brown
Moncarapacho
